The chief of the Tarpon Springs (Fla.) Fire Rescue resigned from the department earlier this week after an investigation of his behavior at a fatal house fire last month. According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Chief Stephen Moreno showed up at the scene of the Jan. 14 fire smelling of alcohol, issuing orders and contradicting the incident commander. When Div. Chief Richard Butcher arrived on the scene, he quickly decided to remove Moreno from the fire scene, as firefighters continued to battle the blaze. 

Moreno had been at a fire-officers retreat a few hours earlier. When he arrived at the incident, he still was wearing jeans, sneakers, a black polo shirt and a Tarpon Springs Fire Rescue jacket. Firefighters from a neighboring department that also had responded complained that Moreno’s "slurred" speech, alcohol smell, and contradictory orders jeopardized everyone’s safety. The next day, one of the responding departments filed a formal complaint and requested an investigation.

Since the incident, Moreno, has expressed remorse for his behavior.

Butcher, who has been named the department’s acting chief following Moreno’s resignation, declined to comment. But the incident raises questions about what actions officers can take when their superiors are behaving inappropriately.

“The aspect falls back on the code of ethics with the chief himself,” said Robert Rielage chief of Wyoming (Ohio) Fire-EMS and FIRE CHIEF contributing editor. “The first thing I would look at in a situation is that we are striving for a degree of professionalism that makes us aware when we are not in full control. What makes this situation even worse, as we saw on Fox News, is that this was a fatal fire.”

Rielage suggested that officers read leadership books that offer guidance in handling difficult situations, particularly works by author Stephen Covey.

“When you get into new areas, you have to rely on your moral compass or conscious or gut reaction — what’s right and what’s wrong and what needs to be done to protect the organization, the firefighters and the public,” Rielage said. “If you prepare yourself even when you get into unknown territory you pretty much know what needs to be done right and accountable, even if that means you may be taking an action against good friends; it’s above friendship, somebody you respected or had as a leader in other circumstances.

“Cudos to the [Tarpon Springs] division chief for taking the action he did,” Rielage continued. “I would hope that my assistant chief had a strong enough character — and I know he does — that if I should do something totally out of character, he would take the necessary steps. I don’t want it to impact an organization that you spent so much of your time building. Whether you ground yourself in a religious belief, as a human being, you still have a moral compass.”