£130k fire boss loses his appeal against sacking
ONE of Greater Manchester’s highest ranking fire officers has lost an appeal against his dismissal.
Assistant County Fire Officer Dave Keelan who earned £130,000 a year, was suspended by the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service on November 22 while an investigation took place into an ‘internal complaint.’
A full disciplinary hearing took place in March heard by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer of GMFRS, Ben Norman, and Mr Keelan was sacked with immediate affect.
The decision to proceed to a full disciplinary hearing followed an investigation by a senior officer from the Tyne and Weir Fire Service who was commissioned by GMFRS to carry out an inquiry.
This month Mr Keelan activated his right to appeal against the decision, which was heard by Chief Fire Officer, Dave Russel. But in a statement issued to the M.E.N., a GMFRS spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a senior officer has been dismissed from the organisation following a disciplinary process. An appeal process has concluded and the dismissal upheld.”
GMFRS has not revealed, so far, the nature of the complaint against
Mr Keelan. Based at fire service HQ in Pendlebury, Mr Keelan was until recently responsible for operations. This includes being in charge of fire engines, kit, and operational policy and procedure including the service’s plans to deal with a terrorism attack, and multi-agency working at incident. The post is now called director of service support but includes broadly the same responsibilities
He was first suspended at the end of last year. In December, a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service has suspended a senior member of staff following an internal complaint. A full investigation is currently underway – it would not be appropriate to disclose further details at this time.”
At his home in south Manchester, Mr Keelan, when asked last year if he would like to comment about his suspension, said: “Not at the moment”.
His suspension came a week after a new report concluded Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service remains unprepared to respond effectively to a terrorist attack, four years after the Arena bombing.
The organisation also needs to do more to protect the public, according to government inspectors. But the county’s fire chief and deputy mayor have hit back, insisting the service does have the capability to respond to a terrorist strike.
Mr Keelan, according to the service’s website, had overall responsibility for operational activity, and was responsible for operational policy and training, operational support, resilience and contingency planning and operational assurance and performance.
Since he joined GMFRS he worked as head of prevention, head of operational training, as a borough manager and led a team investigating the tragic death of firefighter Stephen Hunt at an operational incident in Oldham Street Manchester in July 2013.