Kamloops firefighter suspended
A Kamloops career firefighter has been suspended without pay after allegedly responding to 911 calls while having his driver's licence suspended.
As the city launches an investigation into the firefighter, officials are releasing few details of the probe.
In a brief press release, Len Hrycan, the city's director of community and corporate affairs, said the firefighter failed to disclose a 90-day administrative driving prohibition that was levied while the firefighter was off-duty.
In B.C., 90-day administrative driving prohibitions are issued by police in suspected drinking-and-driving cases.
Hrycan said the situation was further compounded by the fact the firefighter subsequently reported to work and failed to disclose his licence suspension, then drove a fire-department vehicle as he responded to 911 calls.
He said the city considers the situation "a serious breach of duty," noting a full investigation is underway.
However, Hrycan will not say how the issue came to the attention of the city, how many calls the firefighter responded to while suspended, what kind of discipline the firefighter could receive following the investigation, the firefighter's rank or gender.
"In order to respect the integrity of the investigation process, I can't really comment on that at this time," he said.
Hrycan was unsure how long the employee had been with the fire department and said he has no knowledge of a criminal investigation regarding the firefighter's conduct with the department following his 90-day administrative driving prohibition.
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