Thomas MacMillan Photo
The Harp administration responded to a growing political firestorm Monday by canning, at least for now, an assistant fire chief, Pat Egan.
Fire Chief Allyn Wright placed Egan (pictured) on indefinite paid administrative leave pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
Wright and Mayor Toni Harp Monday declined to describe the reasons for Egan’s removal, citing privacy requirements in personnel actions.
Egan has been the focus of protests by numerous groups of firefighters, who complained that he needlessly put their lives at risk at the Aug. 25 fire at Delaney’s Restaurant & Tap Room and that he improperly handled the investigation of a firefighter who was eventually found guilty of witness-tampering. The Board of Alders has hired an attorney to look into longer-running complaints against Egan.
Harp did say no time frame has been set for the leave. “Nobody’s filling his role right now,” she said. “This matter has been handed over the Board of Fire Commissioners.”
Rev. Eldren Morrison, who chairs the commission, said a special meeting will probably take place this week. It hadn’t been scheduled yet as of 1:45 p.m.
“Chief Egan received a letter today that he is being placed on administrative leave pending investigation by commissioners. We are going to take this up this week,” Morrison said. “This is because of some allegations from different people. We received word from battalion chiefs that things weren’t handled right at the Delaney’s fire. We received a letter from the NAACP regarding some [workplace] violations. We want to look into that because these are very serious violations.”
Police were asked to be present at fire headquarters earlier Monday when Wright delivered the letter to Egan. A sergeant responded and was present.
Afterwards, Wright declined to discuss the episode. Upstairs on the fourth floor, another assistant chief, Thomas Neville, said Egan was still in his office. He went into Egan’s office, then returned to say Egan would not come out to answer questions. Egan did not return a phone call and text message seeking comment.
Firefighters and the head of the statewide NAACP attended a City Hall meeting last week to press for swifter action on an investigation into Egan. (Click on the video to watch some of the confrontation afterwards.)
Egan headed the firefighters union for 10 years before then-Mayor John DeStefano named him assistant fire chief in 2010. His tenure was controversial from the start, with his former union mates calling for an investigation into the circumstances of his hiring.
This was long overdue. Pat was put into a no win situation by being thrust into a position he had no qualifications to run. His ego by trying to take control of a major fire scene at Delaneys with accomplished fire ground officers on hand was the final straw. It really showed his deficiencies as a fire ground leader and was downright dangerous. Political appointees in life safety positions is a very scary proposition. Hopefully the Department can now move forward in a positive direction. As for Egan Local 825 could use a good leader!!