Ex-Miami-Dade Firefighters Plead Not Guilty to Charges in Deadly Training Mishap
Miami Herald
(TNS)
Two former firefighters charged with manslaughter in the accidental death of one of their sons during a botched training exercise last year pleaded not guilty Monday.
Neither appeared in court and attorneys representing the two men made the pleas before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Laura Maria Gonzalez-Marques.
Rafael Fernandez, 52, and Francisco Camero, 48, are facing single counts of manslaughter and two counts of culpable negligence each in the death of Camero’s son, Fabian Camero, 28, and the injuries of two others. The trio were unable to escape unscathed during the June 2024 accident at a Virginia Gardens building acquired for the exercise.
Fernandez, a lieutenant and the elder Camero were firefighters with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Both were fired after the incident, which also left the dead man’s younger brother Lorenzo Camero, 25, and Natalia Contreras, 40, injured with burns.
READ MORE: Ex-Miami-Dade firefighter is charged in son’s death during training in Virginia Gardens
It’s still not clear why Fabian Camero attended the training session. The trained paramedic was not an employee of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, which assigned the exercise as part of the International Firefighter Fellowship Program. Contreras was there to film the event.
Lorenzo and Fabian Camero arrived early with their father to help set up the training. The arrest warrant says they arranged barrels that would be used to start the fire and were tasked with filling them with wood. They wore full fire-protective gear. And their father told them to watch the training in a room on the third floor adjacent to where barrels with fire inside were set up.
An attorney representing Francisco Camero had not returned an email or phone calls from the Miami Herald by early Monday afternoon.
Fire safety rules were broken
An investigation by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office that was concluded in February determined that Fernandez and Francisco Camero were assigned the task of “developing, planning and conducting the training curriculum.” It also determined several fire rescue safety policies and rules had been broken, according to investigators.
Specifically cited in the report was that training exercises at off-site properties must avoid any property damage and live fire training in buildings contracted by the county is forbidden. Visitors and spectators like Contreras and the international firefighters who were not escorted at all times as required, and, there was no emergency service on site and some of the gear was old and faulty, sheriff’s office investigators said.
Investigators also said the fire was started when wood was burned in two large 55-gallon drums — one that had been cut in half — instead of required straw that would have burned out and not smoked as much. The training site became so smokey that Fabian and Lorenzo Camero and Contreras lost their bearings on the third floor of the building, investigators said.
When Fabian Camero collapsed, the two others ran out and were finally rescued before the unconscious man’s body was recovered. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office said Fabian Camero died of smoke inhalation.
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