FL Chiefs' Group to Investigate Fatal Polk County Fire Response

BARTOW — The Florida Fire Chiefs' Association will investigate whether Capt. James Williams properly handled a response to a fatal fire on Nov. 23 in North Lakeland.

County Commissioner George Lindsey said Thursday that the private organization will look into allegations that Williams should have done more to save 76-year-old Lorretta Pickard.

"Nothing is off the table," Lindsey said. "Whatever they ask for they will be given access to."

It's unclear who from the organization, which focuses on firefighter education, will investigate and what the scope of the investigation will be. John Miller, the president of the organization and fire chief of the Ocoee Fire Department, did not return a phone message.

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Williams has been criticized for not rescuing Pickard.

Pickard talked with a dispatcher for more than 20 minutes describing the worsening conditions as flames and smoke approached her in the log cabin on Rockridge Road. "It's hard for me to get up ... I usually do OK. I don't know, I guess I'm scared," Pickard told the dispatcher.

In a press release announcing the "independent peer review," County Manager Jim Freeman echoed some of his deputies' previous statements about the fire investigation.

"Recent media reports and public comments concerning the tragic and heartbreaking death of Mrs. Pickard in that November house fire have raised many serious concerns and allegations," Freeman said. "Many of the allegations and comments have been based on incomplete information, speculation and innuendo by individuals who were not on the fire scene and/or have neither the technical expertise nor fire command experience to reach their conclusions."

Lindsey, the commission's chairman, said Freeman made the decision after speaking with each of the commissioners.

"The whole idea is to have transparency," Lindsey said.

The association has agreed to conduct the investigation at no charge.

Lindsey also urged any firefighters with additional information about the fire to come forward to talk about what occurred.

The move to ask someone from the organization to investigate comes a day after Deputy County Manager Joe Halman said plans were to conduct only an internal investigation.

Both Halman and Polk County Fire Rescue Chief Tony Stravino have repeatedly defended Williams. They said the 34-year-old suffered minor burns when he and another firefighter attempted to reach Pickard. They've described the conditions of the fire as making a rescue insurmountable.

But radio transmissions from Williams show him as confused and uncertain.

He describes "setting up a defensive attack" soon after he arrives. That's an operation in which a burning home or structure is too unsafe to enter and no one can be saved.

But then just seconds later Williams talks about entering the burning home based on the policy of having two firefighters on the outside before two firefighters can enter a burning home or building. That policy doesn't apply if someone's life is in danger, county officials have said.

Stravino has described the "two in, two out" statement by Williams as a lack of knowledge on his part.

Williams was suspended for 24 hours without pay for shooting video of the fire then sending it to a group and a female friend.

Commissioner Bill Braswell said the Snapchat video will follow Williams and the county fire department.

"We need a minute-by-minute timeline of who said what and who did what," Braswell said. With the ongoing investigations by the Polk County Sheriff's Office and the Fire Marshal, there are too many unknowns to pass judgment.

"All that said, the Snapchat video will taint this investigation and unfortunately taint the credibility of Polk County whether it had anything to do with fighting the fire," he said.

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