Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department has offered 12 recommendations as part of its report concerning a shooting during a response in 2016 that left one firefighter dead and another seriously injured.
Career firefighter John Ulmschneider was killed and volunteer firefighter Kevin Swain was wounded by gunfire during a welfare check on Darrel Lumpkin at his Temple Hills, MD, home after Lumpkin's brother called 9-1-1 because he could not reach his 61-year-old sibling. Believing Lumpkin was suffering a medical emergency, Ulmschneider and Swain forced entry after loudly knocking and announcing themselves.
Lumpkin, who was incoherent from a diabetic episode, had fired on the firefighters, believing they were intruders. He pleaded guilty to a weapons charge but died last year before beginning a four-year prison sentence.
In the fire department's Sharon Road Safety Investigation Report, which was released Thursday, it was recommended that the department review and consider changes in dispatch procedures. Fire and EMS units should not go out on welfare checks that involve weapons or violent acts unless accompanied by law enforcement, according to the report.
Dispatchers also should ask if guns are present at a scene and relay that information to responding personnel, especially when forced entry is involved, the report stated. A federal report released late last year found that 9-1-1 dispatchers did not warn Ulmschneider and Swain that guns had been reported at Lumpkin's home.
The Sharon Road Safety Investigation Report determined that the department should revise how it manages incidents involving forced entry. Parameters need to be set for when forced entry is required, and that should be followed with training.
First responders should do "a 360-degree size-up" of a scene if possible before forcing entry, the report stated. Personnel standing near an entry during a forced entry also should be limited.
The report recommended that the Prince George's County department create a pilot program for the use of bulletproof vests, something the department was evaluating at the time of the report on the shooting.
