By Dave Statter
WUSA9
WASHINGTON, D.C. — DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Dennis Rubin says he takes full responsibility for the mishap at last Wednesday’s sprinkler demonstration that resulted in three firefighters catching fire. One of those firefighters, a sergeant with Engine 6, spent the night in the MedStar Burn Unit of the Washington Hospital Center.
While Chief Rubin and the department have not responded to requests for detailed information from 9NEWS NOW, the chief did give specifics of what went wrong in an interview for a podcast published on a fire service Internet site, Firehouse.com. Rubin spoke with Ed Comeau of Campus-Firewatch.com. Comeau was a participant in the demonstration.
The firefighters’ gear caught fire when a Plexiglas draft curtain set up to hold in the heat and smoke burned and dripped onto the firefighters. The crew had been sent in to put out the fire in the unsprinklered side of the two mock dorm rooms that had been constructed.
Chief Rubin told Comeau it “looked like a comedy act.” The chief said he took for granted that the requirements outlined in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards for such burns had been followed. Instead the chief discovered there was no safety officer for the event and that a briefing with the firefighters had not been conducted prior to the burn.
The video of the event was first made public by STATter911.com and WUSA9.com. On that video, Chief Rubin, who narrated the event, can be heard telling others to put the fire out on the firefighters and get the back-up line. The chief later discovered there was no back-up line.
Chief Rubin says a required checklist for the event was also not used. Rubin says he will make sure this does not happen again in his department.
Rubin did the telephone interview with Comeau on Monday. Department spokesman Pete Piringer says the chief is currently out of town and is unavailable to speak with 9NEWS NOW.