POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Tampa Bay fire chief is under investigation after he was accused of cheating on the job and potentially putting lives at risk.
Polk County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Bobby Bohn is accused of holding a firefighter behind at the station in late January, causing the firefighter to miss several emergency calls. A complaint said Bohn had the firefighter stay behind to help Bohn with an online test for paramedic school.
Another firefighter sent a complaint about Bohn to a deputy chief last month. The firefighters’ union provided us with a copy.
In it, the firefighter says, "I feel like I have a duty to report since we are striving to put adequate staffing levels of 3 personnel on every truck and this alleged action downed the crew to 2 for personal needs."
“There's three people there on that truck for a reason, and there shouldn't be any less than three anywhere,” said Jay Schwartz, who is the chairman for health and safety for the Polk County firefighters’ union. “You really can't affect a rescue with just two people. If this is true that this is what happened, it could've been a life-and-death situation for a citizen of Polk County.”
The battalion chief wouldn't comment, but he is still working. The county wouldn't say anything because there's an ongoing investigation.
This isn't the first time staffing has been called into question in Polk County.
Last November, when an elderly woman died in a house fire, rescue crews never tried to rescue her from the burning home. The county's own investigation found the fire department needed larger crews for rescues.
An outside consultant arrived in Polk Wednesday. The county hired it to conduct an independent investigation into what happened the night that elderly woman burned to death in her Polk County home.
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