Newly hired Augusta Fire Chief Antonio Burden’s much hyped appearance before the Augusta Public Safety Committee on Oct. 12 to discuss policy manual changes turned out to be full of words but empty of content. In fact, Burden’s appearance was a show about nothing.
A letter sent to commissioners prior to the presentation seemed to indicate that Burden would be focusing on his intention to clarify language in the policy that outlines when firefighters and EMTs can use force to gain entrance to a privately owned building.
The current policy is vague and even contradictory, with some parts allowing for forced entry if firefighters confirmed they have the right street address and other parts stating that firefighters should wait on a Sheriff’s deputy. This issue seems to have played a part in the death of Nichoel Gaither, 43, who suffered a medical emergency on April 21. Gaither died on the floor of her bedroom while firefighters milled around in her front yard for 15 minutes waiting for a Sheriff’s deputy to arrive.
To be fair, this happened before Burden was selected fire chief, and the loss of communication can be squarely placed on the Augusta 911 operator who, according to recordings, never alerted EMT’s that they had the Gaither had already given consent to break down the door and come to her aid.
The current policy manual does not allow for EMT’s and supervisors to follow instinct and make spot decisions if a life is at stake. Instead, it allows for personnel to be disciplined, fired or even prosecuted should they violate the vague language of the manual.
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The poorly written policy presents a clear and present danger to public safety and needs to be revised immediately.
Instead of showing leadership and dealing with the matter headon, Burden stood before the committee and said he is working on building an advisory panel of other fire chiefs across the state to consult with him on the matter of altering policy.
Is this what we are paying for? Do we really need yet another bureaucrat who has to rely on consultants to change a sentence in a document?
Had Burden studied his job description, he would be aware that he, as the administrator of policy, can amend policy at any time all on his own with the help of Augusta’s legal department.
This laissez faire style of leadership comes at the detriment to the citizens and the morale of the men and women employed with the fire department.
Will it take another person dying tragically, this time on Burden’s watch, to spur him to action? We don’t know. Burden seems to have no inclination to address the matter publicly outside of getting into his dress uniform, marching down the aisle to the Commission podium and proclaiming, “We’re working on it.”
