Latrobe firefighters leave council meeting without reason for their suspensions

Firefighters who are under suspension at Latrobe Fire Department’s Goodwill Hose Company No. 1 say they haven’t been told why.

“We were suspended without cause, without reason,” Nico Giovannagelo, captain of the Goodwill Hose Company, said of himself and six other firefighters. “We do not know why we were suspended, for how long, or whether it is an in-house suspension.

“No one has an answer for me.”

Responding to questions from the audience at Monday’s city council meeting, Mayor Rosie Wolford said she wasn’t given advance notice of the decision by fire department officials last week to suspend operations at Hose Company 1, but was made aware when the officials removed the company suspension and then suspended seven of its members.

Devin Giovannagelo, one of those suspended, said he was told the suspensions “came from above” and were decided upon by a group, including the mayor, city solicitor and fire chief.

But Wolford said council had no role in those decisions.

“My understanding is it was made by the executive board of the fire department,” she said. “That decision to suspend firemen is not ours. We don’t set those bylaws.”

Solicitor John Greiner said the city isn’t able to comment on the matter. Fire Chief John Brasile also didn’t address it during Monday’s meeting. He declined to comment afterward.

Wolford said last week the matter is under review. She acknowledged that council discussed personnel during a closed-door executive session held an hour before Monday’s public meeting. Councilman Jim Kelley said council isn’t at liberty to reveal specifics of that discussion.

The Goodwill Hose Company No. 1, located at Oak and Alexandria streets in the First Ward, has about 30 members on its roster. It is one of five fire stations spread throughout the city.

It was initially announced that “Company No. 1 is on a lockdown for reorganization,” according to company president Fabian Giovannagelo, who is Nico’s father.

Wolford has said public safety never was at risk during the suspensions, adding that the city “at all times had adequate emergency response personnel, equipment and apparatus to respond to any emergency.”

But, Nico Giovannagelo indicated, with his suspension and those of six others, “the city has lost one-third of its top responding mask men” — a term referring to the breathing masks and oxygen tanks worn by firefighters.