The City of Pullman is being fined by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries for their handling of the flooding response in April.
Three $900 violations have totaled up to $2,700 for the City, which decided to pay the fines rather than appeal them.
According to the City of Pullman, Labor and Industries issued the first $900 penalty for a fire department commander allowing an unauthorized, untrained maintenance employee to drive a front-end loader with three firefighters in the bucket. The employee had reportedly never been trained in swift water rescue operations.
The second fine was for the firefighters in the front-end loader’s bucket, who were unsecured, not wearing water rescue-appropriate helmets, and not bringing flotation devices.
The third fine was for the City not using appropriate safety devices and safeguards during the flooding.