Records Show Delray Beach, FL, Ladder was Responding to Building Fire

After days of city officials clashing over transparency, Delray Beach released several new details Thursday evening about the Dec. 28 crash between a fire rescue ladder truck and a Brightline train.

The firefighters involved in the crash were driving to a building fire at 365 SE Sixth Ave. at 10:44 a.m., Gina Carter, a city spokesperson, said in a news release.

Preliminary information, including video footage and witness’s accounts, indicates that the fire rescue truck “crossed the tracks while the crossing gates were down after a freight train cleared the intersection,” Carter said.

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Whether the crew on the destroyed ladder truck was responding to an emergency call has been a question repeatedly unanswered until Thursday evening’s statement. Carter on Thursday evening also released the dispatch audio and 911 calls, as well as the name of the third firefighter who was on the truck when it crashed, Joseph Fiumara III.

Driver Engineer David Michael Wyatt was driving the truck while Capt. Brian Fiorey was also on board. Wyatt and Fiorey have been placed on administrative leave since, in addition to two senior staff members, Assistant Chief Kevin Green and Division Chief Todd Lynch. Fiumara III has not been placed on leave.

As of Thursday, Delray Beach Police has asked the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to be the lead investigating agency, Carter said.

“Our Delray Beach investigators are highly skilled and were conducting a comprehensive examination of this incident. However, given the complexity of the crash, the multiple agencies involved, and the need for transparency, I requested the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office assume the lead investigative responsibility,” Delray Beach Police Chief Russ Mager said in the prepared statement.

“This decision ensures the most thorough and impartial review possible, leveraging PBSO’s expertise in major transportation incidents while eliminating any perception of internal influence. Our commitment is to uncover the full scope of what occurred — fact by fact — so that we can provide the community with clear, accurate answers and uphold the highest standards of investigative integrity,” Russ said.

The city in recent days has continued to face pressure from the public and elected officials over the lack of information it has released in the nearly two weeks since the crash.

The new information came to light one day after Mayor Tom Carney emailed City Manager Terrence Moore, commissioners and Fire Chief Ronald Martin, imploring the fire department to release more information than it had. And one day before that, Vice Mayor Juli Casale questioned Moore at Tuesday night’s commission meeting about possible issues the department has had in the past with firefighters driving city-owned vehicles without valid driver’s licenses.

More details have also come to light about Wyatt’s history.

Wyatt, hired in 2002 as an Ocean Rescue officer, had his driver’s license suspended in June of 2023 after a traffic citation over careless driving in downtown Delray Beach, court records show.

A little after 12 p.m., Wyatt, 46, had driven off the road, onto the median, and struck a tree and signs at the intersection of West Atlantic Avenue and North Swinton Avenue, doing approximately $26,000 in damage, according to the traffic citation. No injuries were reported.

Wyatt received a $166 ticket and pleaded guilty, electing to do driving school.

His driver’s license was then suspended in October of that year after he failed to complete driving school, according to court records. The suspension was cleared in December.

The Delray Beach Police Department denied the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s request for officers’ body-worn camera footage from the day of the crash, citing the active investigation.

At least 10 other fire department employees are believed to have had suspended licenses while working for the city of Delray Beach, but the city has not released records pertaining to those employees or said if they were actively driving with suspended licenses.

Casale told the Sun Sentinel on Thursday that a lack of city oversight of the fire department is to blame for the current problems.

“I don’t think it’s too much to expect our firefighters to have a valid drivers’ license,” she said. “Unfortunately, our former commission’s decision to strip the city of its oversight of fire department’s union personnel policies made way for this unprecedented lack of accountability. I’m hopeful the new fire chief will get things under control.”

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