April 6, 2023 Former Frisco Chief Mark Piland didn’t want the department to look bad.
By Susan McFarland Source The Dallas Morning News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Former Frisco Fire Chief Mark Piland had to retire or be fired because he directed changes to a mayday report to make his department look better, according to public record documents that detail an outside investigation.
The investigation, done by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., found evidence that Piland directed staff to either remove information or change language in the mayday document to downplay inadequacies, which also caused distrust within the department, the public records, obtained by The Dallas Morning News, reveal.
As a result of investigation, City Manager Wes Pierson determined a new leader was needed and, according to documents, communicated such to Piland on Sept. 7, 2022. The same day, Piland was placed on administrative leave.
“Based upon the information available to me, in my judgment, I do not believe Mark is the person that can effectively resolve the trust and other issues that exist in the department,” Pierson wrote in a memorandum about Piland, who had been chief for nine years. “Accordingly, I believe it is time for a change in leadership in the fire department.”
The city of Frisco announced Piland’s retirement Sept. 14, citing he is ready to pursue new career opportunities. He is currently running for mayor.
The mayday report was requested by Piland after a firefighter fell through a roof during a Frisco apartment fire that lasted more than 36 hours during the February 2021 ice storm. The firefighter was one of four injured during the blaze. One resident was also injured during the event, which became known as the Circa Fire in investigation reports.
Piland’s attorney Christopher Ayres said in an emailed statement to The News, “In September of 2022, Chief Piland chose to retire because his vision for the Frisco Fire Department did not align with Mr. Pierson’s vision, as city manager. Mr. Pierson accepted chief’s retirement, even expressing ‘appreciation’ and gratitude for chief’s ‘contribution’ in his near decade of service to the city. Any suggestion to the contrary, including that chief Piland was fired for misconduct or otherwise, is not accurate.”
In the memorandum, Pierson writes another issue regarding the need for a new fire chief was that Piland was not supposed to discuss the outside investigation with anyone and was directed on multiple occasions not to do so, but did anyway, according to public records.
“Despite the directives, Mark met with Mayor Jeff Cheney on 6/3/22 and during the meeting raised issues with the motivation for the investigation, the subject of the investigation, and whether the investigation should even be occurring,” Pierson wrote in the memo, citing an additional outside investigation that found Piland violated a breach of confidentiality.
Piland, in a response letter to Pierson, said, “Allegations that edits to the mayday report were done to mislead or falsify matters are outrageous and without evidence,” according to public record documents.
The former fire chief said the department suffered because “external investigators became more interested in apparently casting blame than discovering the real lessons that already existed in the final mayday report.”
Piland’s response said, “Suspicion ran rampant of who would be targeted, thereby impeding the ability of command staff to lead, and rendered the firefighters functioning in a potentially distracted manner while performing their services to the citizens of Frisco.
“Strain was also brought into the relationship I had with the city manager’s office when I attempted to relay the dysfunction that appeared because of those matters. I was placed under a gag order not to discuss it, effectively impeding good city government attempts to implement the mayday report’s lessons.
“Matters were so strained that I was forced to actually speak to the mayor about the untenable position, yet having to explain to him I could not discuss any substantive matters, only the effects of the process being so disruptive that it was fracturing the department. Even trying my best to tiptoe on a razor’s edge because of simply talking to the mayor. I am now apparently branded as disloyal,” Piland wrote.
The investigation into the breach of confidentiality states that Piland’s meeting with Cheney was not a normal meeting in the scope of business, not a situation where the investigation came up by mistake or was accidental, and Piland talked about the investigation “knowingly and with intent.”
“The purpose of the meeting, initiated by chief Piland was to discuss the investigation,” according to the report. “Piland improperly asked Mayor Cheney to keep the conversation confidential.”
During the investigation by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., 42 witnesses were interviewed, and documents, photographs, audio and video files were analyzed. Multiple times the investigation report notes that Piland had a conflict of interest and should not have been involved in the mayday report process, because his decisions were being reviewed and critiqued.
The mayday report, required when an injury occurs during an emergency, went through five revisions.
Piland downplayed his involvement to investigators claiming he only sat in on one meeting and had little association with changes to the report. He said other than the first draft, he did not look at any of the versions until the final draft.
“That statement does not appear to be credible. Chief Piland’s statements about his involvement with the editing process and the changes made are not consistent with how witnesses described the way Piland operates – his demeanor and actions and the way he was described by multiple witnesses demonstrate he oversees everything and keeps track of everything,” the investigation detailed.
Assistant Chief Cameron Kraemer told investigators Piland had input on several sections of the report.
“It was clear from the interviews and evidence that Assistant Chief Kraemer took the lead role in overseeing the editorial process of the mayday report. However, it was also clear that Assistant Chief Kraemer was acting at the direction of, and on the instructions of, Chief Piland,” Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., investigators wrote in the report.
The most “glaring examples” of changes to the report that put Piland’s decisions in a better light is language added to the final draft about the availability of an initial rapid intervention team (IRIT), a designated crew that serves as a stand-by rescue team of any missing, trapped, injured or unaccounted for firefighter(s).
The changes to the final draft related to the IRIT did not have the benefit of a review prior to insertion, and in doing so put command decisions in a “much better light than had previously been present in the mayday report,” the investigation explained.
“This was done in an effort to package the report with an obvious result of that packaging being the avoidance of shedding a bad light on the fire department,” according to the report.
Other examples include removing statements about fatigued firefighters. The initial mayday report stated that for 36 hours prior to the fire, Frisco firefighters were operating “with minimal opportunities for rest due to exponentially high call volume.”
“The removal of this language avoided shedding a bad light on the decision to answer water break calls which stressed Frisco FD resources almost to the breaking point. The initial and later drafts of the mayday report omitted facts that would have conveyed the severity of the near-miss that necessitated the mayday in the first place.
“For example, the report did not include information on the fact that Captain Beck fell through the floor to his chest and that other firefighters placed themselves at considerable personal risk to rescue him,” according to the report.
Piland signed a settlement agreement with the city, which asked him to submit his resignation on Sept. 14, effective Sept. 21, according to public records.
The agreement stated that Piland would be paid a lump sum of one year’s pay and accrued leave up to 1,200 hours. The agreement also stated he would not apply for employment with the city, absent a specific written agreement with the city manager.
Assistant fire chief Lee Glover is serving as interim chief, and a search for Piland’s replacement is underway.