NY Fire Chief Troubled by Fallen Recruit's SCBA Data

A New York fire chief says he's troubled by data from the SCBA worn by a recruit who died after a training exercise at the state academy last month, but the state's attorney general won't be investigating the incident.

Watertown fire recruit Peyton Morse, 21, had been participating in a "mask confidence" drill March 3 at the New York State Academy of Fire Science in Montour Falls when he experienced a medical issue. He was taken to a Pennsylvania hospital and remained in the intensive care unit before dying March 12.

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“If this happened because of someone’s negligence, then Peyton deserves justice," Watertown Fire Chief Matt Timerman told WWNY-TV. "But we won’t know until we get the results of the investigation and we won’t get the results of the investigation until the investigation gets underway. So we’re pushing for an honest, in-depth investigation and let the chips fall where they may."

According to Chief Timerman, Morse had used an amount of air that "was far in excess of what would be expected of a Watertown city firefighter at a structure fire." Data gleaned from the SCBA's onboard computer concerns Timerman that recruits are being pushed too far at the academy.

"We try to limit ourselves to two air cylinders or maybe three, if necessary," the chief said. "But after that we are generally to the point where we are not effective anymore, more prone to injuries. We are just out of gas. He went through more than that—considerably more than that—on the morning he was training. …That does worry me.”

Although the state's attorney general won't be conducting an investigation, New York's Public Employee Safety and Health agency will be looking into Morse's death. That investigation, however, has not been moving as quickly as Timerman would have hoped.

“Even at the pace we’re at right now, it’s frustratingly slow,” he said.

Timerman believes that the Montour Falls academy should be thoroughly investigated so that other recruits aren't pushed too far and suffer Morse's fate. Until that happens, Timerman said he won't be sending recruits to the training academy.

“There’s more information beyond just that Peyton called out for help that I can’t get into, but certainly the information that I have received first-hand from other recruits and other fire chiefs definitely makes me wonder if there’s more to this situation,” he said.