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Mostly Cloudy Inwood firefighters violated state rules
Violations issued in Joseph Sanford’s death
Based on a New York State Labor Department Public Employee and Health Bureau report, the Inwood Fire Department violated federal safety and training standards when it permitted one of its volunteer firefighters to enter a Woodmere house on Central Avenue that was on fire on Dec. 19 without an assigned partner, according to Newsday.
Joseph Sanford Jr., 43, fell through the first floor of the home, and died four days later. According to the state report, only a mayday issued after Sanford, and four other Inwood firefighters responded to the fire informed officials that Sanford was missing in action. Sanford was a 17-year veteran of the Inwood department.
The report said that all five firefighters did not give the Woodmere Fire Department incident commander what is known as their “accountability tags” the identity tags used when firefighters are ordered to leave a collapsing building and other hazardous situations.
According to the report the department violated the partner rule, which is known as – “two in, two out” – and requires firefighters going into a burning structure to have a designated partner for “constant visual or voice contact,” the report said.
State investigators wrote, “Inwood FD members … had conflicting accounts of Mr. Sanford’s whereabouts after the initial entry into the fire structure, and none could account for his whereabouts for several minutes before the mayday call.
Four violation citations were issued by the state last month, according to Newsday.
It was reported that the Inwood department submitted a corrective action plan, accepted the violations, but do not believe Sanford’s death was caused by what they did not do.
Sanford’s widow, who is represented by Inwood native Christopher McGrath, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Nassau County against the owners of the Woodmere house and the contractors who were doing work on the premises. The suit alleges homeowners, David and Wendy Friend, painting contractors, E.M. Expert Corp. of Hempstead and general contractor, Paramount Construction Corp., of negligence and violation of building and fire codes.
A more in-depth report concernbing the fire response is expected to be released in December by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
