The fire department veteran appointed by fire Chief Carlos Huertas to lead an inquiry into the Oct. 7 death of firefighter Kevin Bell has accused Huertas of shutting down the investigation, reports The Hartford Courant (http://cour.at/160VatO)
In an email sent to Huertas in November, deputy chief of training Daniel Nolan said: “You somehow feel compelled to come to the board of inquiries very first scheduled meeting and state that we are to ‘stand down’ and wait until all other agencies complete their investigations, delaying the conduction of our own investigation 6 to 8 months. You went on to say that this directive comes from City Hall due to legal concerns, that you didn’t want to cause any additional harm to the families and that we lack the experience to conduct this type of investigation.”
Nolan went on to say that Huertas directed the members of the board of inquiry to “lead everyone to believe that we are moving forward with the investigation and we will not let them know we won’t be doing anything further until the other agencies have finished. Furthermore, you specified that this change is to be kept confidential.”
The Courant obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Previously
Breathing Apparatus Focus of Probe into Connecticut Firefighter Death
Firefighter Killed and Three Hurt in Hartford (CT) House Fire
