A shocking federal investigation has found that Naval Station Newport employees purposely falsified training records for firefighters and emergency service employees, leaving them without critical emergency training.
Federal investigators discovered thousands of faulty or falsified records after a firefighter alerted officials that his name was on a record that showed he attended a training session that he had never attended.
According to the report nearly all of 29 employees at Naval Station Newport’s Fire & Emergency Services missed essential training that they were fraudulently labeled as having attended. The report said that more than 100 cases included respirator and spinal injury training.
The inspector general has instituted changes that will go into effect at all Naval station including a complete overhaul of the record-keeping system with frequent audits of training records and yearly proficiency training will be required for all emergency service employees.
The fire chief retired last year and the Newport fire training officer was “separated from employment” in March 2017.
“The Navy will be better served in emergency situations because a whistleblower disclosed wrongdoing,” Special Counsel Henry Kerner said in a statement.
