GALLATIN, Tenn. - The city of Gallatin is calling for an outside review of its fire department following questions raised by a NewsChannel 5 investigation.
The review comes after the city's current fire marshal, Stan Gwaltney, told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that the city stopped his investigation into the first of three deadly fires at the Hoeganaes plant in 2011.
Five workers died in the three fires, which occurred in the first six months of 2011.
Outgoing Mayor Jo Ann Graves has asked the independent Municipal Technical Advisory Service to review the fire department's policies and procedures.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered that Gallatin had not fully documented yearly fire inspections at all industrial facilities as it promised to do after the Hoeganaes fires.
The first fire at the Hoeganaes plant in January 2011 killed Wiley Sherburne, 42, and Wayne Corley, 32.
Stan Gwaltney, who has been Gallatin's fire marshal for decades, responded to Hoeganaes after that first fire and was shocked by what he learned.
"I just couldn't believe the place hadn't been inspected in 10 years," Gwaltney said.
Gallatin's Fire Department had no records of inspections at the plant for years.
Gwaltney found large amounts of dangerous iron dust inside the plant that was later determined to be responsible for the deadly flash fire.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Gwaltney, "Why hadn't [Hoeganaes] been inspected in a long time?"
Gwaltney responded, "I don't know. I never got to do my investigation."
Gwaltney claimed the city shut down his investigation into that first fire and the plant's unusual lack of inspections.
"They're trying to shut me up," Gwaltney said. "I saw it right then, shut me up."
He claimed, after that first fire, city officials told him to not to bother Hoeganaes, which is a major employer in Gallatin.
"They provide a service to the community, jobs, taxes things of that nature and they already had enough problems," Gwaltney said he was told.
After that first fire, there were two more fires at Hoeganaes that killed three more employees.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "Could those two explosions have been prevented?"
Gwaltney responded, "I don't know because I wasn't asked to investigate them."
Mayor Graves said her fire marshal is just plain wrong. She said the fires were thoroughly investigated by a federal agency.
"The Chemical Safety Board is really the one that came in and oversaw the full investigation of
Hoeganaes," Graves said.
"Did anyone tell Gwaltney to back off after that first fire?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked.
"No, not that I am aware of,” Graves said.
"Was there any sort of conversation along the lines of Hoeganaes is a major employer, leave them alone?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates continued.
"No, we would not say that,” Graves responded.
Days after the first Hoeganaes fire, the city sent Gwaltney a letter reminding him of his job duties.
Graves said the city had reprimanded Gwaltney in the past for overstepping his authority.
"Stan frequently gets things confused," Graves said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "So why do you have him as an employee?"
Graves replied, "He answers to the fire chief."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates continued, "He was clearly concerned by the lack of inspections."
"I think we're all concerned about the inspections and the documentation of inspections," Graves added.
In a letter to the Chemical Safety Board last year, Mayor Graves wrote that Gallatin's Fire Department would inspect every industrial plant at least once a year and the city would keep records.
So NewsChannel 5 Investigates reviewed Gallatin's fire inspection records in early fall.
We did not find a full inspection of Hoeganaes last year. However, we found handwritten notes from what appear to be partial inspections.
Records indicated another plant in Gallatin had not been inspected since 2008.
The city said its inspections were poorly documented and officials were not sure what facilities had been inspected.
Records were so lax the city asked the Hoeganaes plant to provide proof of fire inspections at its facility.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "Does it concern you that Gallatin didn't have it? That you had to go to Hoeganaes to find it."
"Yes. I am concerned. I wouldn't have called somebody to come in and do a review of one of my departments if I weren't concerned," Graves said.
"Did the city find some inspections in a box in a closet?" NewsChannel 5 Investigates continued.
"The previous fire inspector is no longer there and as I said there was some lax record keeping and we're not doing it that way anymore,” Graves responded.
The Municipal Technical Advisory Service will start reviewing fire department records in December according to Graves.
Meanwhile, the federal Chemical Safety Board has asked Gallatin to provide proof of inspections at its industrial facilities.
Stan Gwaltney is still Gallatin's fire marshal and questions whether the city has learned from what happened.
