Where there’s smoke …
The city of North Las Vegas has been heavily criticized for lacking leadership, but its Fire Department is taking that shortcoming to extremes.
Already dealing with a budget crisis, station closures and a never-ending labor dispute, the Fire Department now is without any of its top officials from just a few months ago.
Last week, Chief Al Gillespie was placed on administrative leave by City Manager Tim Hacker pending an investigation into a January training accident. Two weeks ago, Deputy Chief Kevin Brame was laid off. And in September, Assistant Chief John Oceguera retired to run for Congress.
Assistant Chief Jeff Buchanan, who held the rank of captain when he was promoted to replace Mr. Oceguera in October, is now acting chief.
He has his work cut out for him. Las Vegas firefighters already are expressing concerns that they're stretched too thin providing "automatic aid" coverage in North Las Vegas because of unit shutdowns in the financially troubled municipality. In addition, Las Vegas has ended its fire training partnership with North Las Vegas in the wake of that accident, which injured four firefighters. North Las Vegas firefighters, meanwhile, remain unhappy about the suspension of pay raises, the loss of overtime and the prospect of further cutbacks.
It's going to take real leadership to get the North Las Vegas Fire Department through this tumultuous period. That means making tough decisions, demanding accountability, and finding solutions to keep North Las Vegans safe instead of making excuses. That's Mr. Buchanan's job now, whether he likes it or not.
