KARACHI, July 10: The fire department is going through a command crisis after the Chief Fire Officer was put under suspension on the verbal orders of the District Officer (Civil Defence & Fire) the other day.
Subsequently, verbal orders were issued by the DO instructing the deputy chief fire officer to take charge of the CFO.
Sources in the fire department said that on last Friday, the Emergency Response Centre, Hawkesbay, was found closed when the CFO visited the centre at 6:20pm. On charges of negligence from duty, the CFO removed ERC in charge and his assistant from their posts and ordered that the service be made 24 hours due to monsoon.
Sources said the CFO was told to withdraw his orders, otherwise, he would be removed from his post. As he declined to take back his orders, an entry was made in the daily dairy of the fire department instructing the deputy chief fire officer to take up the charge of CFO.
Simultaneously, ERC in charge and his assistant were reinstated by the DO. As per orders, ERC in charge would also work as coordinator with the CFO.
However, when the CFO was contacted, he told Dawn that he still had the charge of the CFO.
The DO could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
