By Richard Weizel
Connecticut Post Online (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
STRATFORD, Conn. — The former fire chief claims officials warned Mayor James R. Miron about propane tanks left behind on Long Beach West before a March fire at the abandoned cottages posed an explosive threat to firefighters battling the blaze.
Mayor James R. Miron, however, adamantly denies the charge, and contends the allegation is payback by former Chief John J. Cybart, who resigned just before he faced termination earlier this year.
Cybart made his allegations public at Monday’s Town Council meeting, saying that Mark Haddad, who was then Miron’s chief administrative officer, and Fire Marshal Tom Velky warned the mayor about the problem of propane tanks left on the beach when cottage residents were forced to leave in May 2007.
Cybart presented to the council a memo dated June 29, 2007, from Velky that was sent to Haddad, Building Official Brian Donovan and former Conservation Administrator William McCann that he says “made it very clear about the serious dangers the propane tanks posed.”
Velkey’s 2007 memo states that after an inspection, “I documented 37 propane tanks ranging in size from 20 pounds to 420 pounds, Most of the propane tanks have residual gas left inside. These tanks could pose a danger in the event of a fire to fire personnel.”
After a second fire at the cottages in March, a year after an earlier blaze damaged three cottages, fire officials warned the propane tanks could have exploded. Miron blamed Cybart for not informing the town about the serious threat posed by the tanks.
“As far as I knew, the tanks were inspected, and it was determined there was no propane left in them,” Miron had said in the fire’s aftermath. “We want to get to the bottom of how this was allowed to happen.”
The mayor Tuesday again blamed Cybart and Haddad. “If the fault lies with anybody, it’s with former Chief Cybart and Mark Haddad. They should have notified me of the situation and they never did.”
Cybart disputes that. He says that in the 2007 memo from Velky, Haddad was informed of the danger, and that he perosnally advised Miron about it too. He contended the mayor was again told of the propone danger when a fire broke out on Long Beach West in March 2008.
Cybart said he came forward because since he was granted a disability pension in January, a week before facing termination for his involvement in an alleged bid-rigging scheme for a new fire truck, Miron has been “publicly blaming” him for not making the town aware of the danger posed by the propane tanks.
“The mayor was advised about the problem in June 2007 and again after the first fire at the cottages early in 2008. I feel it is time to set the record straight, and put the blame where it belongs ... squarely on the shoulders of the mayor. He should have taken actions after he was warned of the danger.”
But Miron denies he knew anything about the memos, even though his top officials, including Haddad, were informed about the tanks.
“I never saw the memo, and neither Mr. Haddad nor Mr. Cybart, both former officials I would add, made me aware of the situation,” Miron said. “There was clearly a breakdown in communications, because had I known about it I would have acted immediately to have the propane tanks removed, as we recently did with a private company at no cost to the town.”
Miron said as fire chief it was up to Cybart to “ensure public safety and make arrangements for the tanks to be removed.”
But Cybart said, “Our department has no budget or personnel to remove propane tanks ... That is easily proven by the fact that when the tanks were removed the town used a private company and not the Fire Department to do the job. "
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