Posts Tagged ‘Eastern Market Fire’
D.C. Fire Department Responds To Local Emmy Defeat
In late May, D.C. Fire Department brass tried to hose down a local reporter's Emmy nomination. Deputy Chief Kenneth Crosswhite lobbied to have a story produced by WJLA disqualified as a local Emmy nominee. The story in question was a three-month investigative piece that ran on Nov. 11. It chronicled the saga of arson investigators-turned-whistleblowers Gerald Pennington and Greg Bowyer. The two had argued that there were serious holes in how arson cases were being handled. The two had gotten demoted for saying so.
When that story got nominated for a local Emmy, Crosswhite decided to pick his fight. Show business was not impressed. Local Emmy honchos overruled Crosswhite's efforts. And this past weekend, the WJLA piece---by veteran newsman Jay Korff---won an Emmy in the investigative category.
Surely this will go down as a devastating blow to Fire Department brass. City Desk reached Crosswhite this afternoon for a response. He tried to be gracious in defeat.
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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.
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Firefighters Turn Into Whistleblowers
In late December of last year, I wrote a cover story questioning whether the devastating Eastern Market fire might in fact have been caused by arson. The piece used several anonymous fire fighters, documents, and memos to make the case. Not only had Eastern Market been caused by arson, there may be another serial arsonist roaming Cap. Hill.
Of course, I confronted the Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin. He got real hostile:
"When asked about the surveillance operation, Rubin replied: “May I ask who told you?” After this reporter refused to reveal his sources, the chief threatened him, saying: “I’m going to report you to the federal authorities [if you publish that].”
I am still waiting to hear from those federal authorities. This week two firefighters went on the record for a WJLA story. Both claim that the Eastern Market fire was arson.
