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CBS4 Investigation Prompts Warnings To Firefighters About Skylights

DENVER (CBS4) - Days after a CBS4 investigation revealed at least two incidents of Denver firefighters falling through fiberglass skylights, the Denver Fire Department has now begun surveying similar buildings and placing warnings in the department's computer dispatch system alerting firefighters to the potential hazard.

A series of CBS4 reports last week revealed a Denver firefighter fell through a fiberglass skylight on a metal warehouse in 2012. Lt. Joseph Duran was not seriously injured, but the CBS4 investigation revealed department members were subsequently not warned about what happened to Duran and the danger presented by those skylights.

It appears no department-wide warning or safety bulletin ever went out following Duran's mishap.

Denver Fire Chief Eric Tade
CBS4's Brian Maass interviews Denver Fire Chief Eric Tade (credit: CBS)

Fire Chief Eric Tade said the department was trying to determine why information about that incident was not disseminated. In written reports obtained by CBS4, the incident was characterized as a "close call."

Then, three years later, firefighter John Whelan fell through the same type of fiberglass skylight June 28, 2015, after responding to a dumpster fire. Whelan fell 25 feet and died the next month.

John Whelan
John Whelan (credit: CBS)

Three Denver Fire Department sources now say that since the CBS4 reports, fire personnel are now being dispatched to check metal warehouses around the city, and if they have the same type of hazardous skylights, that information is being entered into the fire department's computer system. Then, if fire crews are dispatched to one of those warehouses, they will instantly see a caution note that the building houses fiberglass skylights that could be hazardous.

Within the last week at least four such warehouses with fiberglass skylights have been identified and entered into the DFD computer system. The buildings are in the LoDo and River North neighborhoods. One of them is just a block away from where John Whelan fell.

CBS4 initially asked a DFD spokesperson Tuesday about the new skylight warnings. She said she had been busy and by Thursday afternoon had not provided a response to the CBS4 inquiry.

LINKS: PIA Release And Initial Response | Chief Tade's Memo

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass has been with the station more than 30 years uncovering waste, fraud and corruption. Follow him on Twitter @Briancbs4.

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