Battalion Chief Hits Snooze on Fire Alarm
One Chief is too busy copping ZZZ's to fight fire
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A Battalion Fire Chief fell asleep on the job and missed an alarm for a South Side Fire. Maybe next time someone should remind the Chief there is no snooze button on a fire alarm. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Firefighting can be tiresome and it’s not exactly uncommon these days to hear about someone falling asleep on the job, but dozing off on the job and snoozing through a fire alarm?
This situation is all too familiar to veteran 23rd Battalion Chief DeKalb Walcott who was catching a late-night catnap last week on the job and didn’t wake when the fire alarms went off at 4 a.m. for a South Side fire.
"He was asleep and missed a run. There was a run in the middle of the night, and he didn't make it," a source familiar with the incident told the Chicago Sun-Times. "The battalion chief rides by himself -- not on the fire engine. He gets himself to the fire. Everybody else goes on the apparatus. He didn't get to the fire."
Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford refused to identify Walcott as the one on duty who slept through the alarm.
"There is an investigation to see why this particular member did not make it to the fire. Once the investigation is complete, discipline will be doled out if appropriate,” Langford told the Sun-Times.
A second chief was there to take over, but only after Walcott could not be located.
It was an embarrassment to Engine Company No. 72, but they insist there were no critical consequences.
Another source thinks otherwise. They told the Sun-Times the house was engulfed in flames, and there were rescues to be made. Thankfully no one was injured in the blaze.
Posted Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 2:26 AM CST
