An Orange County battalion fire chief is in trouble for nearly hitting a pedestrian while driving on the wrong side of a road in an emergency vehicle. The chief only received a verbal warning for what happened. The issue compares to the recent "road rage" incident involving one of their engine companies response.
Fire Battalion Chief Brett Wasmund was required to attend counseling sessions about his driving skills after a woman called and complained she was almost hit by him while he was on his way to a call. The witness said he did not have his lights or sirens on, and then went to the fire station to the report the incident. The actual incident was not caught on video.
Supervisors said the fire chief was stuck in traffic so he ran over the median, drove the wrong way down a street, ran a red light and almost hit a pedestrian. The battalion chief did call the woman to apologize for his actions. OCFR leadership said these are two different incidents because Wasmund’s mistake was not intentional, however the road rage involving their recent engine company was an intentional act.
