ORLANDO, Fla. – The President of the Orlando Professionals Firefighters is questioning decisions made on a response call during Hurricane Milton.
“We need to learn from all of our incidents,” IAFF Local 1365 President Doug Zabin said. “Our policy is not to respond once winds get over 40 miles an hour. However, I think we need to look at that. We shouldn’t let a family’s house burn.”
Doug Zabin has requested the Orlando Fire Department to investigate a fire that occurred on Oct. 9, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and sent a firefighter to the hospital.
That night, the Darr family called 911 to report a sparking downed powerline.
“They saw the downed power line and the burning tree, burning tires on my trailer. The firemen told me that he had to get OUC to turn the power off. I thought as a homeowner, that meant that would be happening right away,” David Darr told News 6 last week.
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According to the incident report, the responding firefighters were told to return to headquarters because the Orlando Utility Company was not sending crews to shut off power due to bad weather. Before leaving, Engine 6 advised that the power line had a “high likelihood of causing a structure fire,” and it did.
“That’s a testament to the crews on scene that knew that there was a dangerous situation and did not want to leave it, but they were ordered to leave it,” Zabin explained.
The Darr family lost their home and their food truck. The damage is estimated at $603,600.
“Our hearts and thoughts go out to the Darr family. To lose your home and your business is just heartbreaking, and we hope that they’re able to recover,” Zabin said.
Now, Zabin wants an investigation to be done.
“I think the decisions we need to look at are on the initial call. When there was a downed powerline, why were we not able to get OUC to shut down the power then? It could’ve prevented the entire incident,” he said.
He explained it took 30 - 40 minutes for the crew to be sent back to the house for the fire.
“If they had been dispatched sooner maybe the incident wouldn’t have grown to the size that it did, and maybe our firefighters wouldn’t have been hurt,” he said.
According to the report, OUC assisted crews once they returned to the scene from a “remote location.”
“Was the power turned off when you guys were fighting the fire?” News 6 Reporter Stephanie Rodriguez asked Zabin.
“It wasn’t turned off until several minutes after the firefighter was injured, was electrocuted,” Zabin replied. “I believe OUC has the ability to shut down parts of their grid remotely and that’s what those initial units were trying to get done.”
When asked about the union’s request to investigate, OFD referred News 6 to a previous statement about the fire that said in part, “...the Orlando Fire Department will continue to evaluate its protocols and procedures to better protect and serve the public and its first responders.”
However, Zabin said the department is not looking into this specific incident.
“There was just no interest in pursuing it,” he said.
Zabin has now requested the State Fire Marshal’s Office investigate it.
OUC responded to our request for comment on Monday with the same statement News 6 previously received from the company.
“This is an ongoing investigation and we cannot comment at this time. Our hearts go out to the homeowners and all involved,” OUC Public Relations Manager Derek Hudson said in an email.
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