Report details incident leading to North Las Vegas fire chief's paid leave
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The North Las Vegas fire chief remains on administrative leave after a training session went wrong earlier this year. Video by ktnv.com
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North Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- North Las Vegas Fire Chief Al Gillespie is on paid administrative leave.
City Administrators say Chief GilLespie should be held accountable for a training academy that went wrong.
Today Action News acquired a detailed report on that incident.
Four veteran firefighters were injured in the Positive Pressure Attack Training Academy back in January.
The training program included all fire departments in the Valley.
The firefighters union says it's not a good reason to suspend Gillespie considering the training was contracted out to a third party and other departments participated.
The union thinks it's because Gillespie didn't publicly support the city's recent budget cuts.
"This is just nothing but a political tool to get rid of him because he does not support these dangerous cuts to our community," says North Las Vegas Firefighters Union president Jeff Hurley.
"That's absolutely false," says City Manager Tim Hacker to the union's attacks.
"You don't buy that? I don't buy that."
In paperwork obtained by Action News (a study done by SQS Consulting, headed by Steven Smith a retired Clark County Fire Chief), there is no official recommendation to remove top personnel from their positions due to the injuries which occurred during training.
However, city administration say the report is narrowly focused and that they put Gillespie on leave in order to further investigate his role in events leading to the botched training academy.
The academy was hosted by the North Las Vegas Fire Department.
According to the report, North Las Vegas therefore assumed responsibility as the authority with jurisdiction.
The training academy was paid for by grants the North Las Vegas Fire Department applied for in 2010.
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