US

DC Allows White House Ambulance To Go Unfixed, Blames Driver

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Font Size:

Two years after a District of Columbia paramedic was punished for letting an ambulance run out of gas on the White House lawn, a judge overturned the decision and blamed the city for failing to fix the gas gauges.

A district judge ordered the city to re-pay Darlene Nelson for the 120 hours she was suspended and ripped the city for failing to fix the broken gas gauges on multiple ambulances in its fleet, The Washington Post reports.

The ambulance was at the White House on motorcade duty Aug. 8, 2013, waiting to accompany President Barack Obama to a restaurant to celebrate his 52nd birthday. When the vehicle unexpectedly ran out of gas, Obama was forced to make the trip without an ambulance detail.

Following the incident, the city blamed Nelson, a 13-year veteran with D.C. Fire and Emergency Services (FEMS), saying that she should have known to fill up the gas tank, even insinuating that she may have been trying to sabotage the ambulance to make the department look bad.

Nelson and the labor union that represents paramedics blamed the faulty gas gauge, which, according to the Post, had been reported to FEMS officials with plenty of time to fix prior to the engagement.

During a recent testimony, fire officials said Nelson should have known that the gas gauge was broken and filled the tank anyway. Maintenance issues have been a major problem for the D.C. fire department this year, with less than half of its fleet certified for use.

During a city council hearing in April, then interim D.C. FEMS chief Edward Mills said that just 29 of the city’s 63 pump trucks are certified for use and only 11 of the city’s 26 ladder trucks are certified.

Mills also said that the preventative maintenance program consists of a single mechanic who travels to the 33 different fire stations in the city to identify issues with fire trucks.

The problem with maintenance is so bad that the D.C. Council enacted emergency legislation in October that will see the city contract with private ambulance companies to handle some emergency calls in order to take the strain off the city’s severely deficient fleet.

The new plan comes after several instances where none of the city’s ambulances were available and firefighters were forced to carry people to the hospital on their trucks. In August, an infant died because the nearest ambulance was more than seven miles away.

Follow Josh on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.