He says he had to dumb himself down to go to work as a City of Charleston firefighter. Last week, calls for Chief Rusty Thomas' resignation came from former fire fighters. Now, the call comes from some one still under his watch. He asked that we not show his face, for fear of retaliation.

Since the night they lost nine, Chief Rusty Thomas has said if they had to fight the same fire again, they'd fight it the same way. After the criticism kicked in and a review team pointed out 27 flaws, Thomas changed his response slightly.
"This will make us better, that's why we brought these people in to work with our people," said Chief Thomas back on August 17th.

But one still working under Thomas' watch says nothing is better.

"He gives me substandard gear to go in and fight the fires. Air packs are barely compliant, they're not the best we can actually have. Our training is minimal," said the City firefighter who wanted to remain anonymous.

He says in three months the only changes he's seen have been on paper. He calls Mayor Joe Riley's support for Thomas, sad.

"Now that OSHA's report has come out and said the leadership at the fire scene was non-existent, which all points back to Rusty, for him to sit there and still say the same thing, now we're getting angry," the firefighter said.

He believes Thomas should have been put on leave immediately after the fire, like how law enforcement handles officer involved investigations. He says as Thomas continues to avoid any accountability, the words being thrown around to describe him, aren't pretty.

"Idiot's been used a lot. Time for him to go. The changes are not gonna be made with present administration,"  the insider said.


The firefighter says he worked in another more progressive fire department before he came to Charleston. He says when he went to work here he was told to forget what he did before and use Thomas' tactics.