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They’ve got to let him go.
Hopefully under his own terms, with a nice retirement dinner and an honest appreciation of the fact that he has given his adult life to the service of the people of Rochester and their fire department.
But they’ve got to let him go.
It was in the dark of the night, where Monday became Tuesday, last week, on Copeland Street. It was two stories and two alarms and Group 2 Deputy Chief Jim Hartman was on scene and in command.
And in the way.
He was among the firefighters in front of the porch and then he got up on the porch and that’s where it happened, and where he never should have been. He’s there to supervise, to take in the big picture, to have the overwatch.
But he gets keyed up at fires like this. Ever since the Wilson Street fire. It was two nights after Christmas, a fire a lot like this, going on five years ago, and Jim Hartman ordered the firefighters out. But it’s tough getting in and it’s tough getting out and half the house came down before they all were safe. A wall caught three of them and they were hurt bad and it changed him. Several firefighters said that. Now he gets nervous at big fires.
And Copeland Street was a big fire.
And it looked like there might be people inside. Cars in the driveway, lights on in the house, and no one answered the pounding on the door at 2 a.m. Firefighters went in and found debris and clutter, and moved through the house with difficulty, searching for victims and fighting the fire.
And Jim Hartman ordered them out.
That’s why you have chiefs. To look and see and take in the big picture, to guide and sometimes restrain men and women who were born to serve and for whom sacrifice is a daily reality.
Jim Hartman ordered them out.
Jim Hartman almost became chief of department. Felipe Hernandez made him Car 2, but when Chief Hernandez retired, the politicians put in Teresa Everett, who traumatized the department from top to bottom. She let Hartman retain his rank, but she put him through hell, and when it came her time to go, she lobbied the mayor and City Council hard not to make Jim Hartman Car 1.
And maybe she was right.
He’s a hot head, and sometimes a bully. He’s a know it all and a micromanager, and he’s not that popular in the department.
But he’d give you the shirt off his back, and he backs his firefighters and their officers.
And he loves the fire service. When Stefano Napolitano was chosen to be fire chief, he offered to keep Jim Hartman on, but at a reduced rank. Hartman took it, to stay in the department.
Like all of us, he’s got his plusses and his minuses. One of his plusses is he chose to live a life of service while most of the rest of us chose to sit on our asses.
And he wanted those firefighters out of that house. He had water coming into it from the truck, he had at least one other line seemingly engaging it, and they weren’t making progress and he wanted them out. But firefighters are slow to get out of a house, unless it’s a situation of immediate danger. They’ve got equipment to carry, hoses to back out, and the bitter taste of defeat to process. Sometimes it takes some time. And maybe it was Jim Hartman’s short temper or maybe it was him remembering digging men out of burning debris on Wilson Street but, dammit, he wanted those firefighters the hell out of there right goddam now!
So he went up on the porch and met Lt. Andy Perez. Perez was commanding Engine 17 on an overtime shift. Hartman had been his lieutenant when Perez was a probie. Their relationship is long and strong.
And Hartman shoved Perez on his ass.
The story that circulated in the first few days was that Hartman has put his hand on Perez’s shoulder and Perez had tripped backward accidentally. But that’s not what Geoffery Rogers’ video shows. The independent journalist was on scene, doing a Facebook Live, and at one minute and 50 seconds into his video it’s pretty undeniable that the deputy chief shoves the lieutenant to the ground, and then bends over him, wagging a finger and seemingly yelling.
Rogers didn’t notice it. One of his commenters did. She isolated it and posted it and, dang, there it is. A disgruntled firefighter uninvolved in the situation disseminated the video and City Councilman Willie Lightfoot went after it. A retired firefighter himself, Lightfoot nonetheless has a burn for the fire department and pushed the mayor later in the week for an explanation.
And that makes Jim Hartman a marked man.
The city has a policy forbidding workplace violence. There is video evidence of workplace violence. There aren’t many ways you can go with that.
Which is a loss for everyone.
The Rochester Fire Department is a noble organization. Jim Hartman is a great man. Neither are perfect, both are worthy of respect.
But so is Andy Perez.
And neither Andy Perez nor anyone else should face violence in the workplace. That’s not pussification; that’s common decency.
The story is that Hartman and Perez talked it out and hugged it out that night at the scene. Multiple firefighters have said that Lieutenant Perez isn’t upset.
But the good order and discipline of the Rochester Fire Department is the issue here. Deputy Chief Jim Hartman detracted from that good order and discipline. He used violence against a coworker, he disrespected a fellow fire officer, he humiliated Lieutenant Perez in front of his crew.
And he physically accosted a first responder – which is against the law in New York, even if you’re another first responder.
The chief and the mayor have been put in a position where they don’t have a choice. Regardless of what they think about Jim Hartman or the respect they may appropriately have for his lengthy and accomplished career, he violated their policy.
And he did it on video.
Which tells us something about him.
How the mayor and the chief respond will tell us something about them.