Two firefighters have been dismissed from a Nova Scotia fire department after a man was struck and killed by a fire truck that was called to help him after he crashed his snowmobile.
The RCMP said the man crashed into a snowbank on Wyvern Road near Poison Lake in Collingwood Corner, N.S., late Friday night.
The 28-year-old man from Springhill, N.S., was then struck by a fire truck that was responding to the scene. He died shortly after.
Greg Herrett, the CAO of the Municipality of Cumberland, confirmed to CTV News that former fire chief Jerrold Cotton was driving the truck at the time.
Police have said they don’t believe drugs or alcohol were a factor in the collision.
“This incident and one that followed have sparked outrage in the community and created serious concerns regarding the leadership of the Collingwood and District Volunteer Fire Department,” said the Municipality of Cumberland County in a news release Wednesday.
The municipality held an emergency three-hour meeting in Amherst, N.S., on Tuesday to discuss the incident and actions of two members of the Collingwood and District Volunteer Fire Department. The meeting was closed to the public.
A public meeting was held Wednesday, where council discussed a number of recommendations included in a staff report.
According to the report, former fire chief Jerrold Cotton and former acting fire chief Andrea Bishop breached the fire department’s Code of Conduct in the days following the fatal collision. As a result, they have been discharged from the fire department and banned from the fire hall.
“We are heartbroken for the family of this young man and we extend sincere condolences to his family and friends,” said Mayor Rod Gilroy in a statement.
“We trust that the police investigation related to the incident will come to a just conclusion.”
Cotton and Bishop said truck didn’t hit victim: report
According to the report, Cotton and Bishop were both riding in the fire truck that responded to the snowmobile crash. The municipality says the fire department didn’t report the incident after it happened and a council member heard about it in the community Saturday morning.
When council contacted Bishop, she confirmed the fire department had responded to the scene and the man had died, but she failed to mention that the man had been struck by the fire truck.
The report states Allen Cole, the municipality’s director of public services, learned from the RCMP that the fire truck had “clipped” the snowmobile as it was arriving at the scene and that the snowmobile and the truck had been seized.
Cole contacted Bishop, who admitted the truck had “clipped” the snowmobile, but said it didn’t hit the victim. When Cole met with Bishop and Cotton later Saturday, they both maintained they didn’t hit the victim.
Cole asked Cotton to step aside from his duties with the fire department pending the investigation. Bishop was then designated as acting chief.
After further investigation, the RCMP determined the truck had struck the victim and not just the snowmobile.
The report states the municipality again contacted Cotton and Bishop, who maintained the truck had only struck the snowmobile. However, another member of the fire department told Cole it was “possible” the truck had slid into the victim.
Cotton drove Bishop to medical scene: report
On Monday, the Collingwood and District Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to a medical call at a home.
According to the report, Bishop asked Cotton to drive her to the scene, even though he had agreed to step aside from all departmental duties.
Family members reportedly spotted Cotton in the truck and advised members of the fire department that they didn’t need their assistance.
Cotton and Bishop breached Code of Conduct: report
The report found that Cotton and Bishop breached the municipality’s Code of Conduct for fire departments as they weren’t “completely truthful” when reporting the details of the snowmobiler’s death.
“In fact, they repeatedly claimed that the truck did not strike the victim,” the report states.
It also notes Cotton and Bishop should have known it was “inappropriate in the extreme” for Cotton to appear at a medical call after agreeing to step aside, especially “given the well-known outrage in the community.”
“These actions, by Cotton appearing and by Bishop allowing it as acting chief, display both an obvious disregard for the gravity of the situation and extremely poor judgment,” states the report.
Bishop and Cotton must remove all signage that alludes to the fire department from their personal vehicles. They are both banned from the fire hall property and staff has been directed to change the locks on the building.
Staff has been asked to arrange for an external review of the incident and report back to council.
Meanwhile, the police investigation into the fatality is ongoing.
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