New York state has issued 14 violations to two fire departments regarding the Dec. 19 line-of-duty death of Mount Marion volunteer firefighter Lt. Jack Rose.
The Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau of the state Department of Labor issued the violations in early May. The Times Herald-Record obtained the reports on the two departments through a request under the Freedom of Information Law.
Two key findings in the reports point to possible contributing factors in Rose's death: Rose, who was 19, was using someone else’s self-contained breathing apparatus pack — equipment he had not been fitted for and not trained to use — that he grabbed off the truck of a different fire department at the scene of the fire that night.
Rose and the firefighters with him inside and outside the house failed to stay in contact.
The citations are based on a lengthy investigation, including interviews with those at the scene, done by both PESH investigators and Saugerties police. Safety and health officials issued eight violations to Rose’s Mount Marion Fire Department and six violations to the Centerville Fire Department.