By Alexandra Sanders
The New Haven Register
KILLINGWORTH, Conn. — The Fire Department voted this week to dip into the company fund, built up by donations and fundraisers, to back the fire chief after an ousted volunteer firefighter filed a lawsuit against him and the department.
Firefighter Brian Ahern was dismissed from the volunteer department in early April for “fits of rage, violent outbursts and profanity,” in addition to confronting the fire captain about a hazmat situation that Ahern said was not handled safely.
Ahern’s attorney, John R. Williams of New Haven, said that Ahern was a whistleblower in the potentially hazardous situation in which Fire Capt. Donald Venuti III brought a 55-gallon barrel of kerosene back to the department, where Fire Chief Arnold Moore said he would handle it.
According to Williams, the barrel with a rag stuffed in the top, was placed next to a water well for 10 days.
Following the incident, Venuti said that Ahern “verbally abused” him and Moore then terminated Ahern’s membership in the fire company, which he appealed, but the decision was upheld by the board of trustees.
Last week, Ahern filed a lawsuit against Moore and the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company, which says that he was protected as a whistleblower under the First Amendment.
According to Secretary Rick Albrecht, the Fire Department voted to use up to $20,000 from its fund to back Moore against the lawsuit if needed.
Ahern, who did not attend the vote, was upset by the proposed expenditure.
“I don’t think people in town appreciate the money being spent on lawyers to throw people out of the Fire Department,” said Ahern, who was a 39-year member of the department.
Ahern said that the department gets an average of $20,000 indonations each year, which is usually spent on new equipment.
“Every year, we send out a letter asking for donations. People should know what that money is going to,” said Ahern. “When I was fire chief, I was proud that I created an automatic defibrillator program.”
According to Ahern’s son, John Ahern, who was present during Monday’s vote, there were about 30 members who voted to back the chief with the money, and only he and his brother opposed the motion.
“Emergency Medical Service is one of the things I like to focus on because we get so many calls for that now, and there are these automatic CPR machines that we could with that money,” said John Ahern.
“You could be going down the road in an ambulance trying to do CPR and you hit a bump, so it’s not consistent, but this machine would make that possible. It costs $17,000 to get, but we need something like that instead of wasting this money.”
Moore declined comment when asked where the money was coming from, in addition to whether an attorney is representing him.
“My girlfriend said that her grandparents live in town and donate every year, and they’d be pretty pissed to know that this money is going toward keeping my dad out of the department, who they like,” said John Ahern.
Albrecht said he did not recall a situation similar to this in his time at the department.
Copyright 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning
All Rights Reserved
ProQuest SuperText
Copyright 2011 Journal Register Co.