Fire Department Faces Internal Strife Over Mount Pleasant Blaze

It was reported a few weeks ago that two D.C. Fire Investigators are now checking fire hydrants after claiming the Eastern Market fire was arson. Now, a firefighter is under scrutiny for critiquing the way the Mount Pleasant fire was handled. The Fire Department brass is allegedly blaming the catastrophe on one firefighter--saying she should have checked the basement (where the blaze began). The firefighter says she was redirected up a few floors and has the radio transcript to prove it.

Firehouse.com is reporting:

"A D.C. fire captain is under fire for blowing the whistle on what she believes went wrong during the huge apartment building fire in Mount Pleasant.

The five-alarm fire on March 12 was one of the most destructive in D.C. history, displacing 200 people and spreading to a neighboring church.

Now D.C. Fire and EMS Capt. Vanessa Coleman, who criticized how the blaze was fought, is under fire herself.

'She was made a scapegoat,' said Richard Condit, senior counsel for the Government Accountability project. Condit represents people claiming protection as whistleblowers, a category that now includes D.C. Fire and EMS Capt. Vanessa Coleman. "

Coleman has been reassigned and ordered to submit to a mental evaluation. The cause of the fire is still listed as undetermined. We wrote a cover story on the Eastern Market fire controversy.

Tags: Eastern Market Fire, Mount Pleasant Fire