Did CT Firefighter Overdose at Station?

Oct. 9, 2018
A New Haven firefighter is on paid administrative leave after colleagues found him unresponsive in their fire station Saturday afternoon.

Oct. 09 -- NEW HAVEN, CT -- A firefighter is on paid administrative leave after colleagues found him unresponsive in the Woodward Avenue fire station Saturday afternoon, according to Fire Chief John Alston.

Alston said firefighters were dispatched to a call at about 1:30 p.m. and a firefighter who was at the station was nonresponsive. Colleagues assessed the firefighter, while American Medical Response continued on to the call, Alston said.

“The firefighter was treated and sent to (Yale) New Haven Hospital and released the same day,” Alston said. “He is currently on paid administrative leave while I investigate the matter through a joint investigation with myself and labor management.”

Alston would not confirm whether any treatment, such as Narcan, an opioid antidote, was administered to the firefighter, which had been reported by WTNH News 8 Tuesday.

Alston said firehouses are “like communal living; they’re in contact with each other off and on, depending on the configuration of the house.”

“They have a break room, a kitchen, an apparatus floor,” he said. “If there are no calls, they may find a corner to read a book, or watch TV or study.”

___ (c)2018 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) Visit the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) at www.nhregister.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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