By Shelly Whitehead
Cincinnati Post
CINCINNATI, Ohio — An assistant fire chief in the Crescent Springs-Villa Hills department had been drinking in the hours before fellow firefighters found him standing on the aerial ladder platform of a broken and blood-covered $700,000 fire truck, where a non-firefighter was seriously hurt, according to an in-house investigative report.
Assistant Chief Frank Hicks was fired three days after the incident, which authorities said occurred about 2:30 a.m. July 21 at the Overlook Drive firehouse. In a letter terminating Hicks, Fire Chief Jeff Wendt said Hicks disobeyed a July 20 order prohibiting department personnel from operating the costly new aerial truck, which had been delivered that day for an open house July 22.
But in an investigative report of the incident, which Wendt sent to city leaders Friday and The Post obtained Monday through an open records request, the chief stated that Hicks had also been drinking in the hours before firefighters found him standing outside on the bloody vehicle with its 110-foot ladder extended above the firehouse roof.
“At 3:30 a.m. I received a call at my home from Firefighter George Bruns,” Wendt’s report states. “George stated that ‘You need to come to the firehouse immediately; there is blood on the new ladder truck and it was sitting outside’ ... Firefighter (Ryan) Atwood stated that when dispatched for a fire run they witnessed Assistant Chief Hicks standing on the platform of the ladder ... (which) was extended over the building with all the lights on. ... When I looked over the truck, the rear platform was covered in blood. ... It was apparent that some damage had occurred to the ladder.”
Authorities have not identified the injured man, but said he was not a member of the 80-person department.
Villa Hills Mayor Mike Sadouskas said he was informed that the man was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery, but the exact nature of his wounds or how they occurred has not been disclosed. Wendt’s report only states that Hicks “put a non-firefighter’s life in danger by allowing him to climb a ladder that he had never been trained on.”
Wendt told city leaders that he spoke to Hicks just before 4 a.m. the morning the incident occurred, but received few answers. In that conversation, Hicks identified the injured man only as “Tony,” Wendt said.
“I ... asked what had happened. His (Hicks) response was ‘Tony cut himself on the ladder.’ I asked why the ladder was out. ... His response was ‘I did not put the ladder down.’ ... Earlier that evening I had witnessed Assistant Chief Hicks and his friend drinking beer in a recreation area of the firehouse.”
The report states that Hicks not only violated Wendt’s orders against operating the truck, but also departmental policies against operating fire vehicles less than eight hours after drinking alcohol.
“The facts of what happened were clear. ... " Wendt’s report states.
“Frank has set a bad example for others to follow.”
Hicks, a 19-year veteran of the department, has refused to comment on the case. Department personnel have referred all questions to Crescent-Villa Fire Authority Attorney Steven Martin.
Martin provided copies of the investigative report and Hicks’ personnel file to The Post in response to an Open Records Act request.
Those documents shed little light, however, on what precipitated the incident and why the injured man was not taken to the hospital by ambulance. If that had been done Crescent Springs police would have been called to the scene and officers would likely have filed a report concerning the incident.
Instead, the fire department alone has investigated the incident involving its own members and equipment, which was being purchased by the Crescent Villa Fire Authority.
Crescent Springs Mayor Jim Collett - a Fire Authority board member - said he has no problem with the department investigating the incident, and he is satisfied with the results. Collett said all injury and property damage claims have been sent to the insurance companies and he considers the case resolved.
“To date, I’m satisfied with what’s occurred,” Collett said.
“We’re having a meeting with Jeff Wendt, myself and Mayor Sadouskas to go over the report and to see if there’s any other action we need to take. ... But, we’ve made a claim with the insurance company ... and they’ve covered any expenses that would be incurred ... for personal injury or property.”
Last week, Sadouskas said he had some concerns about whether the incident might present some liability issues for his city. He said the chief’s report answered a lot of his questions, but he reserved further comment until after meeting with Wendt and Collett later this week.
“At some point this week, we’ll follow up to discuss it a little further,” Sadouskas said. “So, I don’t have any additional comments.”
Neither Sadouskas nor Collett knew whether title had actually been delivered to the Fire Authority on the truck when it was damaged.
A local representative for the manufacturer, American LaFrance, did not return phone calls concerning whether they still owned the truck at the time.
Hicks’ personnel file includes details about a special recognition he was given for rescuing a man and two dogs from a fire two years ago.
The file indicates Hicks, 38, worked at the department for 19 years, though there was no information about when he was appointed assistant chief.
In a 1990 membership application to the fire department, Hicks indicated he had been arrested earlier that year for “removing a gumball machine from Tickets,” a Covington bar, as well as driving a stolen car in 1984. He also listed four traffic violations over a five-year period, though the file did not include any information regarding an official criminal background check.
The department’s Alcohol and Drug Policy states off-duty personnel and their guests can drink in the Overlook Drive recreation room, but fire personnel must wait eight hours after drinking before reporting for duty.
Though Wendt reported he saw Hicks drinking the night the truck was damaged, his report does not say whether the assistant chief was on duty at the time.
Likewise, although the department’s policy allows firefighters to give breath or blood alcohol tests to personnel they suspect have been drinking, Wendt’s report does not indicate that any such test was given to Hicks after the incident.
The Fire Authority Board adopted a zero tolerance policy for the department five years ago after nine former firefighters at the department told city officials some fire personnel had gone on fire calls after drinking.
At that time, the Fire Authority Board also asked that a beer vending machine be removed from the firehouse. Neither Martin nor Collett knew if that had ever happened.
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