Hartford Mayor Speaks Out About Problems at Hartford Fire Department

Hartford's mayor is speaking out about ongoing problems at the city's fire department, from an altercation and arrests to reported equipment shortages before the death of a firefighter in the line of duty.

"I am not happy with firefighters at any level having altercations in front of a working fire. It's not acceptable," Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said  in response to a fight last weekend between two lieutenants at a fire scene.

And that's not the only thing bothering Segarra about the city's fire department.

"I'm not happy that we have to get into all these different areas of emails back and forth," Segarra said referring to fallout from a decision to put a department inquiry into the October line-of-duty death of Kevin Bell on hold.

Turmoill has surfaced in the department since Hartford firefighter Kevin Bell died in the line of duty.

"I know that that's very difficult for the department and that particular fire house but I want to make sure that at the same time that we investigate this that we also work with the different partners in making sure that we provide support to firefighters and others," Segarra said. "Does that mean that we allow fights to go on? No."

There have also been two firefighters arrested and another was forced to resign after repeatedly being accused of drinking on the job.

Adding to the frustration, a memo, uncovered by the Troubleshooters, was sent to Chief Carlos Huertas days before Bell was killed indicating possible equipment problems at Engine 16 where Bell served.

And on Monday night, the Troubleshooters exposed an email exchange between Deputy Chief Dan Nolan and Huertas where Nolan accused the chief of shutting down the department's inquiry into Bell's death until other investigations wrap up while also asking members to act like the inquiry was still going on.

The mayor addressed the decision made by himself and the chief to put the department's inquiry on hold.

"What I think is more appropriate is that the state and folks that are disconnected from the city in terms of any particular bias conduct a full and thorough investigation," Segarra said. "Once all the facts are in, once the report is in, then we can go back and analyze and make sure that we make any and all changes that are required in order to keep our department functioning and our community safe."

After repeated requests for Chief Huertas to answer questions about the investigation into Bell's death and the state of his department, he declined to go on camera but released the following statement.

"While it is protocol to establish a Board of Inquiry when tragic incidents like this occur, there are other on-going investigations that could potentially be compromised," he said in the statement. "I conveyed this to the Board of Inquiry and they were in agreement as their primary role is to review the information once it is gathered."

The state's investigation is expected to take at least six months.

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