To the members of the Golden's Bridge Fire Department,
As the current Captain of the Golden's Bridge Fire Department, I would like to take this opportunity to address you in hopes of assisting you in your decision making as the Fire Department moves forward. I have been a member of this Fire Department since December of 2000 and an office for the past seven years. When I first joined I was greeted by then Captain Dan Dreyer who told me "this is a brotherhood". I liked that concept and was looking forward to helping the community. I have been consistently one of the most active members of this department since I have joined until recently. The current climate within the department has been hindered in my opinion by the decisions made by the Board of Fire Commissioners and the actions of a few individuals. I hope bringing some clarity to the current affairs within the department may help you as we move forward to hopefully restoring an atmosphere of brotherhood to our department.
I will try to represent the truth as I know it in each of these cases so you can understand the pressures the top four positions within the department are either under or have been under. All four positions are either currently being forced out or are under tremendous pressure to be forced out.
Walter Hughes is currently operating under the threat of a significant suspension by the district for a statement made following the fire at the Deer Park Tavern on January 26th. Walter has for the most part been carrying the fire department for months now as the department has been in turmoil and his leaders below him have been removed from service or are in the process of being removed from service. Some have argued that Walter had performed the duties of Chief for a significant period prior to him taking office. It should be noted that Walter was the driving force and coordinator for the highly successful 100th Anniversary celebration for the Golden's Bridge Fire Department. I watched Walter calculate from the time that he was Captain of the department how he would raise to Chief and lead us during our 100th Anniversary. This was his dream and he delivered it for the department to enjoy.
To say that Walter's tenure as Chief of the department has been hell would be an understatement to say the least. I have had a front row seat for his reign. I have seen him threatened to be run out of office while being screamed at. I have seen him face insubordination and ridicule from even officers within his ranks. Yet, Walter even as late as this week said to me that he continues to be an optimist and put this dark period of the departments history behind us. The man is good natured and deserves none of the abuse he has received. If all of us were as good natured as Walter the department would be a much better place. Walter Hughes is a Brother.
John Barrett is currently serving a four month suspension for his entering the Deer Park Tavern on January 26th without his proper Personal Protective Gear. As I reviewed with the department at the February monthly meeting, John was investigated and suspended at the fire scene prior to any interview being conducted with him. His suspension was initially based on the testimony of an officer and a firefighter from Golden's Bridge. John most likely will not be returning as a firefighter to our department. When this period of the department's history is looked back upon, losing an extremely skilled firefighter like this to lead and instruct our men will be viewed as the biggest loss of this period. John's insight into planning future apparatus for the department is also now lost. John Barrett was the first member of GBFD to call me "Brother Lynch" and he meant it. John risks his life everyday of work for strangers, you can bet your home on the fact that he would risk his life for you.
Rich Barrett has not been approved by the Board of Fire Commissioners as 2nd Assistant Chief. This is the main reason for me writing to you as members. Rich completed a recent suspension from the department for a matter he plans to review with you on Tuesday evening. Rich has been a member for 18 years and an officer for 12 years. Rich handled Rescue for GBFD for a decade and made Rescue 24 the state of the art responding piece of apparatus it is today as well as updating the equipment and Rescue operations. When Rich completed his suspension, he inquired if this was the end of his punishment as we move forward or would this issue come back. He was assured that the issue was now closed and this was behind them. The story has now changed as you see by the Board not approving him as 2nd Assistant Chief. The information that has reached me is that this is performance based for the past few months. I do not know if this is the case but this is what I have been told. Rich had several months of uncertainty on his status as 2nd Asst. Chief prior to his actual suspension which has just ended. He awaited a pending suspension that took several months to enact.
If you recall during the December 2009 monthly meeting, one of the members of the Board of Commissioners stood up in an attempt to embarrass 2nd Asst. Chief Barrett and make him proclaim the reason he was demanding that the Fire Department's Durango be returned to GBFD headquarters. The Durango was then returned to GBFD headquarters thus removing Rich as a responding Chief. He was informed that he could respond to fire scenes in his private vehicle. As you have seen with my unfortunate ice storm incident, we have discovered that you are on your own insurance if you have an accident responding to a call per our Board of Commissioners. So rather than risk his personal vehicle, Rich responded with John Barrett when John was available to drive him to incidents. Rich has also been compared to another officer who recently served a suspension for insubordination in terms of his activity within the department. I believe the comparison is unfair as Chief Barrett works a significant amount of overtime and I am fairly certain the analysis of date and time of the GBFD calls has not been performed in terms of mapping these calls to Rich's work schedule. All of these factors should be considered if in fact the approval of Rich is based on his activity and performance in the recent months.
I believe the most appropriate statement that I have heard regarding Rich Barrett recently came from Ex-Chief Mike Cassar in that Rich Barrett would risk his own life to save yours. Rich believes in the mission of the Fire Department and is dedicated in leading it as we go forward. His skills are valuable and we cannot afford to lose a qualified leader who has the knowledge and dedication to lead us all. It is unfortunate that we are even discussing the issue of him not being approved by the Board of Commissioners. If it is in fact based on his activity within the department, then this argument does not hold merit if the proper analysis is performed. Rich Barrett is a Brother.
I hesitate to bring my own personal story regarding the recent months into this as to not interfere with the matter of Rich being turned down as 2nd Assistant Chief. I am doing so as I think it will only add to represent the climate under which the four leaders of the Fire Dept are currently operating.
From the very beginning of me being named Captain I was having terrible difficulty with an officer who consistently was being insubordinate and undermining my role as Captain. We have spent many hours with the Chiefs in the department discussing how to manage this individual. I was invited to the home of one of the present commissioners as a 'friend' to discuss my relationship with this individual. I was met by two sitting commissioners and we agreed that this was outside of their roles in the district and I agreed that was fine as we were friends. The main point of the meeting was to get along with the individual officer and 'to let things take their natural course' in terms of who was to move up in the ranks within the Fire Dept. In the best interest of the department, I have consciously avoided this individual and stuck to 'business only' on calls, meetings, planning drills etc…
I attended the Katonah Fire Department installation dinner several months ago with Chief Hughes and left my personal vehicle at the Golden's Bridge Fire house. My car was vandalized that evening by members who were there while I was at the dinner. The next significant event was that my fire gear began to get tampered with consistently. My voice modulator was stolen from my mask, my helmet was tampered with, my leatherman tool was stolen and my radio was consistently being turned on so the battery would die. I was then screamed at during the same session where Chief Hughes was being told he would be run out of office, where I was told that "you are not a Chief, you cannot drive the Chief's cars". I believe that this decision was foolish in that it left the community to have one responding Chief in one vehicle. I have not driven a Chiefs vehicle since. I verified with neighboring departments that they do in fact have their Captain respond in the Chiefs vehicles to cover their district when Chiefs are unavailable. My gear continues to be tampered with until as recently as last Sunday. I have notified the Chiefs, the President and the Fire District. The District has stated that it is not their matter and have requested a police report. Currently I can not be assured when responding to fire calls if my gear is in fact intact or tampered with. This jeopardizes my safety and the safety of the men I am commissioned to lead.
So now we are in the middle of 'letting things take their natural course'. It is up to the membership which course we want to take. One of the members of the Board of Fire Commissioners has honestly come forward to profess that he was dead set against this current action of not approving Rich Barrett. He was aware of the resulting climate within the department if this decision was made. As you have seen in recent days, members from the department are returning to voice their concerns on the matter of the direction of the department. I hope that our department can return to being a Brotherhood. We have to decide if this is the course we want. Please attend Tuesday's meeting and listen to Chief Barrett and then make your decision on what is in the best interest of the Golden's Bridge Fire Department and the community of Golden's Bridge.
