STLFF12's Blog

Part II of this story, so some of this may be redundant as the 1st.

A 45 year old man drowned at the Glen Echo Country Club Monday night. Any time someone this young dies, it is a tragedy. Unfortunately, last night's incident goes well beyond the scope of normal human suffering because of the circumstances surrounding the Normandy Fire Department's gross inability to respond to the community's needs. The drowning occurred at Glen Echo Country Club, which is located less than five blocks from the Normandy's fire station. Normandy's ambulance - unit 4717 - and their Deputy Chief - unit 4701 responded to the call. Instead of going to the Glen Echo Country Club, both 4717 and 4701 responded to the Norwood Country Club in Jennings. After becoming so horribly lost that they could not make the alarm at Glen Echo in a reasonable time frame, the first responding units contacted North Central Dispatch and requested support from the engine company - unit 4724 - that remained at the fire station. Engine Company 4724 – staffed by professional Fire Fighters and long time employees of the district – arrived at Glen Echo Country Club less than two minutes after they responded to the call. The ambulance and deputy chief did not show up until 14 minutes after they were dispatched. The Engine Company was on the scene and caring for the patient for nine minutes before the ambulance and deputy chief were able to find the correct location of the call. The critical information to this story is that this tragedy is the result of the Normandy Fire District Board of Director's efforts to remove highly trained, competent, and dedicated professional Fire Fighters and replace them with incompetent cronies of the Board Chairman, Joe Washington. The Deputy Chief who responded on this call - Robert Manuel - was fired by the previous board for abandoning his job, and was only recently re-hired by Joe Washington and district attorney Elbert Walton. The ambulance was staffed by a full-time paramedic - Joe Buehler - who was fired by the previous board for failing to complete his probationary period, and a part-time paramedic - Kim Fowler. Both paramedics have been working for the district for less than two weeks.