NIOSH Investigators, Firefighter Cancer Registry Workers Fired by Trump

Trump's hatchet fell on employees involved in two vital firefighter-related programs last week.

Three of five investigators involved in NIOSH's Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program were fired as well as workers who maintain the National Firefighter Cancer Registry. 

Until Saturday, Patrick Montague investigated incidents that led to firefighter deaths for NIOSH. He was abruptly fired by the Trump adminsitration despite repeatedly being commended by his supervisors for his work.

In a form letter he received Saturday night, Montague was told both that he was vulnerable to termination because he had not yet completed a two-year probationary stint and because "your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment," NBC reported.

Montague said three of the five people in his program, which Congress created to decrease the risk of firefighters dying in the line of duty, also were fired. 

A firefighter for 26 years, he also possessed academic training and technical know-how to determine what went wrong at an incident and make recomendations. He had been in the position for two years. 

"I don't believe that the president of the United States or Bobby Kennedy even know we exist," Montague said of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Most people would greatly agree that there’s waste that could be trimmed, but I think there are better ways to do it than on the back of the people" focused on first-responder safety.

IAFF General Edward Kelly said: "Programs like the Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program are an investment in public safety. The lessons learned through line-of-duty death investigations help prevent future incidents and save American lives. We are hopeful and confident that the Trump administration will prioritize these critical programs — because when fire fighters (sic) are safer, so are the people we took an oath to protect."

NBC reporters said they want to know if Kennedy believes firefighter safety is a low priority for taxpayers and whether the risks to firefighters have been reduced enough that they no longer require as much study. No one has returned calls for comments.

Former Baltimore Battalion Chief Louis Lago, who worked in the same death-investigation unit as Montague, said he fears for other firefighters and his children.

"My concern is that the program is going to dissolve, and I have two sons in the job. I do think this has huge benefit to the safety and well-being of the fire service," Lago, who worked from Myrtle Beach, said.

Now, with just two of the five investigators still working, he and others familiar with the program say it might not survive.

"If they terminate enough people, they won’t be able to function," said Micah Niemeier-Walsh, chief steward for American Federation of Government Employees Local 3840 in Cincinnati. "They’re just taking a hatchet to things. They’re not being mindful at all about who’s being affected."

Federal workers who maintain the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, which collects voluntarily provided information to track and combat cancer deaths among firefighters, were also let go, according to union officials.

The registry was created by a measure that passed Congress unanimously.