The Orlando fire chief is defending his crew inside Station Five, after an Orlando officer wrote in an incident report that he saw several wounded Pulse victims not being let into the fire station.
Chief Roderick Williams said that one of the ironies of having the station so close to Pulse, was the area was considered part of the crime scene. He said that department protocol required the firefighters inside the station to wait for law enforcement to deem the area safe, before opening the doors to the station. "We don't have the equipment or the training to stop bullets," said Roderick. "Our firefighters aren't designed to take on bullets. They don't have guns. We don't carry guns. We don't carry protective gear like law enforcement, bulletproof vests."
The Orlando police officer wrote in his incident report that after he knocked on the station's doors, still no one came to the window. He then had headquarters call the fire department's dispatch to let them in.
"The bay doors went up minutes later. It was just minutes. So, once the scene was deemed safe, we treated," said Williams.