After the collision of a Brightline train and a Delray Beach fire truck last weekend, the fire chief announced that four employees are being placed on leave.
Delray Beach Fire Chief Ronald Martin said in a Facebook post Friday evening that Assistant Chief Kevin Green, Division Chief Todd Lynch, Captain Brian Fiorey and Driver Engineer David Wyatt are being placed on administrative leave with pay, "pending the results of an internal administrative investigation to determine if City and Fire Rescue policies and procedures were followed."
The chief did not elaborate on why exactly these four employees were placed on leave. Green and Lynch are members of senior staff.
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Brightline passenger describes moment train hit fire truck
"All public safety agencies carry an immense responsibility," Martin said. "I remain fully committed to learning from this incident, strengthening our procedures, and ensuring our firefighters have the training and resources needed to protect Delray Beach safely and effectively."
Fifteen people were injured in Saturday's crash near the Southeast First Street crossing, including three firefighters and 12 Brightline passengers. A witness told WPTV they "saw the fire truck wait for the freight train to go by. It started to try to get around the arms and eventually it was sliced in two by the Brightline."
On Tuesday, Martin said in another post that he hoped this incident — which is being investigated by the Delray Beach Police Department, Brightline and the National Transportation Safety Board — would be a "turning point."
"This is the time to examine where we might have fallen short in the past and make the tough decisions needed to ensure we don’t continue to do so," Martin said in Friday's post. "I am committed to implementing meaningful changes to strengthen our operations and taking the necessary steps to uphold the integrity of our department."
Martin added that the three firefighters injured on Saturday "sustained moderate to minor injuries and have been released from the hospital."
