Fallen firefighters foundation asks Congress to shift death investigations

By Bill Dedman
MSNBC.com

A foundation representing firefighters who die in the line of duty is calling for Congress to strip the Centers for Disease Control of its role investigating firefighter deaths. But the firefighters union, which helped give that job to the CDC in the first place, says the investigations need more funding and authority, not different leadership.

The groups were reacting to an MSNBC.com investigation describing how the CDC blocked inquiries by its own safety engineer into potential problems with firefighter equipment; usually takes more than a month to send investigators to the scene of a fatality; doesn't investigate if the fire union or a fire department refuses to cooperate; has cut back in the past three years on the percentage of firefighter deaths it looks into; and destroys information that could help identify patterns of problems with safety equipment, training or tactics.

"There is no excuse for delaying or failing to investigate a line-of-duty death," said Hal Bruno, chairman of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, a nonprofit group set up by Congress to remember firefighters who die in the line of duty.

Full Story: Group wants CDC stripped of firefighter unit