By Glenn Smith
The Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Jimmy Ghi left a stable job in Virginia and uprooted his family two years ago to help the Charleston Fire Department fix a host of training problems that came to light in the aftermath of a deadly blaze.
A 30-year fire service veteran with a fistful of credentials, Ghi thought he had a lot to offer a fire department reeling from the loss of nine men. He said he didn’t suspect that he too might become a casualty of the department’s “deep-seated culture” and “destructive pride.”
On Wednesday, the 50-year-old battalion chief submitted his resignation as training director, citing a pattern of harassment and ill-treatment from the fire chief on down. Ghi hand-delivered a 10-page letter to Fire Chief Thomas Carr’s office, outlining a host of grievances. Friday will be his last day with the department.
Ghi said he is departing under duress and without a backup plan. He said he is unable to cope any longer with being undercut by superiors, bad-mouthed by the rank-and-file and thwarted in his mission to train firefighters in modern tactics and standards.
He said Carr knowingly allowed a hostile work environment to fester until the situation became untenable.
“I have done nothing wrong, but I feel I have been put into an absolutely unbearable position,” Ghi said. “So I’m going to give him what he wants. I’m going to save him the effort because I just can’t do this anymore.”
Mark Ruppel, the Fire Department’s public information office, said Carr has spent the past six weeks evaluating the department and is in the process of making program changes.
Carr was working to find an appropriate role for Ghi when the training chief submitted his resignation, which was “voluntary and unexpected,” Ruppel said.
“Although the city disagrees with numerous representations and characterizations in his resignation, we nonetheless wish him the best in his future endeavors,” he said.
In recent weeks, Ghi said, Carr had threatened to remove him from training and fire him, largely over word-of-mouth complaints from firefighters about Ghi’s personality, which was said to be abrasive and abusive.
Ghi said he accepted a subsequent offer from Carr to return to the street and oversee firefighters in the field, but that offer was rescinded, Ghi said.
This week, Ghi said, he learned that Carr was moving him to a non-existent position with ill-defined duties as an aide to the three assistant chiefs, two of whom had been gunning for his ouster. Ghi decided to leave instead.
Carr and other city officials are aware of Ghi’s specific complaints but would not discuss his grievances in detail, saying the dispute is a personnel matter.
Hiring a new training director to expand and upgrade firefighter preparation was a key recommendation of a panel of experts that examined the Fire Department after the deadly Sofa Super Store blaze in June of 2007.
The city hired Ghi for the job in March 2008. Then-Fire Chief Rusty Thomas said Ghi was “by far the best” of 57 highly qualified applicants to help the department establish “the safety based environment that we are looking for.”
Ghi came to Charleston after a 26-year career in Fairfax, Va., where he had worked as a field training officer and as a battalion chief supervising five fire stations and 63 firefighters.
Ghi said he initially detected a thirst for knowledge and much talent in Charleston, but he also sensed resentment, particularly from Thomas and other commanders. “Ignorance led me to believe that personnel in the Charleston Fire Department wanted and expected change,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
Ghi said he encountered resistance and apathy from commanders as he tried to usher in new approaches to training to address deficiencies noted by the expert panel and the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Ghi said he thought things would change when Carr took the helm in October of 2008, but the chief gave him mixed messages on priorities, requiring him to change the department’s training plan several times, he said.
At times, Ghi said, he was faulted for scheduling too much training; other times, not enough.
Despite these difficulties, Ghi said, about 100 recruits were trained under his watch, training expanded from an eight-day course to 20 weeks of intensive instruction, and the city came in line with federal and state standards.
His key mistake, Ghi said, was agreeing to teach a class of 50 recruits this year, the largest session to date. He and his staff had trouble getting enough instructors and resources, he said.
They later learned that recruits had complained about gaps in the training and that some class members had used independent study time to nap or read novels. Ghi said he was appalled to learn of this and pledged to make changes.
Still, the recruits graduated after passing independent testing conducted by the state Fire Academy, he said.
Ghi said Carr told him he was competent and the move from training was not based on performance. Ghi said he was told that firefighters just didn’t like his demeanor and they didn’t respect him.
He said he doesn’t consider himself abrasive, just “very up-front,” energetic and frustrated with the pace of change. He said making friends was never his first priority.
“That’s not what I’m here for,” he said. “I came here to make things happen.”
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