The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — A deputy fire chief appointed earlier this year to oversee the D.C. fire department’s troubled apparatus division is being demoted to battalion chief after the embarrassing discovery that several ambulances were repaired with street signs.
Mechanics from the Department of Public Works — who were asked to step in and assist the fire department’s overwhelmed mechanics shop — bent aluminum street signs and used them as makeshift heat shields inside the engine compartments of four ambulances while repairing the units last month.
The improvised repairs were brought to the attention of Deputy Chief John Donnelly on the afternoon of Aug. 12, according to an email sent by the firefighters’ union to Chief Donnelly.
Full story: D.C. fire chief in charge of fleet maintenance demoted