PORTLAND, Ore. -- Someone, somewhere did not like Portland Fire Commissioner Randy Leonard's rooftop survey of damage in the hours after a three-alarm fire had destroyed Marysville Elementary School in SE Portland.
An anonymous complaint was filed with the Oregon Occupational Safety & Health Division. The complainant objected to Leonard donning protective gear and joining firefighters atop the burning school.
Leonard served as a lieutenant with Portland Fire & Rescue. His career in the city's fire department spanned 25 years, according to his office.
The OSHA complaint alleged "a city employee was exposed to a serious hazard caused by exposure to an active fire."
Lt. Allen Oswalt of Portland Fire & Rescue acknowledges Leonard was on the roof, wearing the same fire gear as Portland firefighters. He added that Leonard was not in any danger.
Read: OSHA complaint (PDF) | Portland Fire letter (MSWord)
Leonard's chief of staff, Ty Kovatch, said it was his boss's natural response to "gear up" and join his former colleagues.
"He was a fire inspector, a fire fighter, a fire lieutenant and president of the Portland Fire Fighters Association," Kovatch said. "He's a very experienced and capable fire fighter."
Leonard was on vacation and unavailable to comment.
The Fire Bureau has been working with OSHA for more than a week to resolve the issue, Oswalt said.
"OHSA contacted our safety chief and we've since decided we're going to re-train (Commissioner Leonard) on some of the things that've changed in the seven years since he's been gone," Oswalt said, adding that OSHA was satisfied with that response and the bureau considered the case "closed."
Leonard has agreed to attend four hours of fire training next month with the Bureau.
The Portland Fire Bureau will now require all city commissioners check in with Incident Command when on the scene of active fires, and they must be accompanied by a safety chief at all times.
