LONDON, Ont. -- London’s Acting Deputy Fire Chief Jack Burt has been placed on leave pending a code of conduct investigation, CTV News has learned.
Burt was placed on leave late last week and will remain on leave while the investigation is underway.
“It’s a whole long process,” one source said.
The City of London said in a statement the city does not comment on personnel matters.
“In general, if an employee is on leave, the individual’s responsibilities are reviewed and alternate arrangements are put in place as needed,” the statement reads.
The face of the fire department, Burt was front and centre during the Old East Village explosion and at other high-profile events.
Two years ago, another deputy fire chief, Brian McLaughlin, was placed on leave amid allegations of bullying and harassment. McLaughlin is no long with the department (although he is still listed on the city's website), but he made the 2018 Sunshine List with a salary of almost $170,000.
Sources also say the toxic working environment within the fire department continues, even after McLaughlin was placed on leave and after Chief John Kobarda announced his retirement in 2018 amid the harassment scandal.
John Hassan, the former head of the London Professional Fire Fighters Association, now retired, says he is disappointed that the city is not acknowledging the investigation.
“They needed a professional communications strategy at the outset to let the public know that we’re taking this seriously, especially to let the workplace know that there has been a complaint and there is an investigation. To say nothing, to me, that’s harmful,” he says.
“This code of silence just gets people digging and looking,” he says.
We reached out to Burt via email, phone and Twitter but received no response.
- With files from CTV London's Brent Lale
