Our view: Davis acted without malice
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If anything is clear in the aftermath of the tragic disposal of miscarried twins in Odenville, it is that former Fire Chief David Davis meant no harm.

Recognizing that no one could save the premature infants’ lives, he and an attending paramedic turned their attention to getting the mother to the hospital. Only later, when it was clear that the mother’s life was not in danger, was there time to rethink what had been done with the fetuses.

That they had been flushed into a septic tank was crushingly painful to everyone who learned of the incident. The knowledge was so painful, the very thought of it so unbearable, that someone had to be held accountable.

That someone turned out to be Davis.

Perhaps that is appropriate. We do want emergency responders to be cool under pressure, to be trained to react appropriately to any emergency, to make good decisions. Above all, we want them to save lives.

That’s what Davis thought he was doing. If he made an ill-thought or un-thought-out decision to flush the fetuses, it was out of urgent concern for the mother and nothing else. For that he has lost his job.

Odenville firefighters pleaded with the mayor and City Council to keep Davis, saying “he has given to this town more than can ever be repaid.” Davis said he was touched by the outpouring of support and spoke of the bond that has developed among members of the Fire Department. He said he considered his fellow firefighters family. Yet, he did not contest Mayor Buck Christian’s decision to let him go.

As Odenville begins its search for a new fire chief, we hope the injuries from this tragedy can begin to heal — for the town, for Davis, and especially for the family who lost their twins.
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FIREFIGHTER-PM
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August 31, 2010
I HAVE WORKED @ ODENVILLE FIRE AS A PART-TIME FF/MEDIC.I WORK 48 HR SHIFTS @ TWO DEPARTMENTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT CHIEF DAVIS IS A VERY GOOD CHIEF AND LEADER.I UNDERSTAND HOW THIS MUST LOOK BUT I THINK THAT DAVIS MAY HAVE MADE AND ERROR IN JUDGEMENT BUT I WAS NOT ON THE CALL.I WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT THE AMBULANCE SERVICE HAS DONE TO THE MEDIC THAT WAS ON THE AMBULANCE.WE SEEM TO BE BURNING DAVIS BUT LETS STOP AND THINK!!! THE PARAMEDIC IS THE PERSON WHO ALLOWED THIS TO GO DOWN. WHY IS HIS/HER NAME NOT NOTED IN ANY OF THE COMMENTS GOING AROUND. HOW MANY TIMES ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE A SLOPPY DECICSION IN ODENVILLE. LETS GET THE NAME OF THAT MEDIC SO OTHERS SHALL KNOW WHEN HE/SHE ARRIVES @ YOUR HOME TO HELP YOU! TO HEAVYWEIGHT AND THE CITIZENS, SO EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS THE EXAMPLE HEAVYWEIGHT MADE,,,, IF YOUR DOCTOR TELLS YOU TO TAKE A MEDICATION TO HELP YOU WITH A MEDICAL PROBLEM DO YOU SAY NO!!!! WHY? BECAUSE HE IS YOUR DOCTOR! SO YOU GO TO YOUR DOCTOR BECAUSE YOU ARE SICK AND HE TELLS YOU TO JUMO OFF A BRIDGE. WOULD YOU DO THAT? SO PEOPLE, DO SOME HOME WORK BEFORE YOU MAKE STATEMENTS ABOUT THINGS. PEOPLE IN THE TOWN MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THE EMS SYSTEM. YOU CAN GET SOME CON-ED BY LOOKING @ WWW.ADPH.ORG/EMS THIS WILL GIVE YOU INFO LIKE THE PROTOCOLS THAT ARE USED AS A GUIDE NOT RULES. THIS WEB WILL ALSO GIVE YOU THE RULES OF EMS IN ALABAMA. UNDER PROTOCOLS SEE ABD PAINS,CHILD BIRTH 4.12,ADMIN PROTOCOLS 8.1 DEATH IN THE FIELD AND THE BIG ONE UNDER MEDICAL MANAGEMENT OF THE SCENE PROCEDURE #1. ON THE STATE RULES NOT PROTOCOL (GUIDE) SEE 420-2-1-16 SEC.-C. OK NOW THAT I HAVE GOT THAT OFF ME CHEST. IF MR DAVIS WAS FIRED FOR DOING THE WRONG THING DOES THE COUNCIL KNOW HOW THE RULES IN THE STATE ON EMS PARAMEDIC VS BASIC. THE FIRE DEPT. WILL NEED SOMEONE VERY STRONG IN THE UNDERSTSTANDING OF EMS RULES AND MANAGEMENT BECAUSE DAVIS WAS THE BEST @ THE DEPARTMENT.A VERY BIG VOID. I WISH DAVIS THE BEST.

Read more: stclairtimes - Odenville officially terminates fire chief

concerned citiz
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August 26, 2010
Yeah, I have heard from the beginning that Davis followed the order of the paramedic on the scene because Davis is only a basic emt. He makes decisions on fire scenes ONLY. He asked him what he was suppose to do and the paramedic told him, "There's nothing we can do except flush them." So, again I wonder why we haven't heard of the paramedic being reprimanded, written up, put on leave, or terminated because of his bad judgement? This goes to show just how unfair your people appointed to office can be.

I thought of this recently......In the movie, "A Few Good Men" with Tom Cruise & Jack Nicholson, there were two marines arrested for the death of a fellow marine. But, they were following the order of Col. Jessup, the person in charge. The marines couldn't understand why they were discharged from the service because they were simply following orders. But the only difference in what has happened with Chief Davis and with this movie is, that when all is said and done, the man (Col. Jessup) that gave the order admitted it and WAS arrested and suffered the consequences of issuing the order!

Now I know that there's a huge difference here because what he ordered caused death to another human being. But, the way the family, the mayor, the council members & the sheriff have acted, you'd think that Davis caused the death of these twins, which is NOT the case and we all know that.

Again, the person that gave Davis the order to flush the commode NEEDS TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES, as well as Davis, otherwise, to many, it appears that the family and the sheriff made Davis a personal target. So I hope, for the sake of all involved, the right thing is done here.

DAVIS DID MAKE A BAD CALL TO FOLLOW THE ORDER GIVEN, BUT THE MAYOR MADE AN EVEN WORSE DECISION BY FIRING HIM. But it's obvious that Davis has more support then the mayor who needs to start looking for other employment as there's no doubt he will be voted out come election time.
262542
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August 25, 2010
I don't think some people understand that when there is something going on like a medical call or a fire call there is a chain of command that has to be followed. Please let me enlighten you on how all of this works if you dont know already. When there is a fire call then the highest ranking firefighter is in charge of the scene and he makes all decisions and all decisions go through him/her. The same goes for a medical call. The highest ranking person is the one who makes the decisions and all decisions go through him/her. The incident that happened on the 23rd of July was a medical call and the person in charge of this scene is the paramedic since Davis was only a basic emt. So the decision that was made was not made by Davis it was made for him by the person in charge. This is how a chain of command works, the person in charge makes the decisions and then makes sure that they are carried out, no questions asked you just do what you are told to do and go on with it. There were no laws broken in this case. If the Mayor who is a volunteer firefighter would have ran the call as well he may have made a better decision than the ones who actually have to work for a living and run calls early in the morning. Davis ran calls at all hours day or night and with out question when someone called him to come and check on their loved ones who didn't want to have to call 911 he put everything down and went to see what he could do. I think maybe we need a new mayor and council memebers. If they even had a chance to glimpse into what all the firefighters and Davis have had to do and see then I think that their decision may have been different. But as they are all getting cozy and comfy with their families these guys are out missing things with their families so that everyone else will be safe. Davis did contest the decision of the Mayor and the council but they had already made their minds up and why go through that again??
t0302
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August 25, 2010
the article says that Davis did not contest the decision to fire him, that is so untrue. He spoke with the mayor and council the monday that the firefighters said their peace. So if they were not going to listen to him then, and not even listen during the meeting, why would he put himself and his family thorugh that again???

I am just saying Davis has been put through enough by the mayor and council..This is just so sad. Davis was doing what he thought was best for this family...

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