Knoxville, TN (WOKI) – Three employees with the Knoxville Fire Department have been disciplined following an incident back in July in which a woman was mistakenly pronounced dead.
KFD Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks says on July 25th, KFD went to a home on Rondo Road and found a woman in the basement and pronounced her dead. However, an investigator with the Knox County Regional Forensic Center responded shortly after and saw signs of life, gave her Narcan and revived her.
Chris Thomas, the chief administrative officer at the Knox County Regional Forensics Center, says the investigator, Kenzie Sellers, jumped into action when she noticed a twitch, adding that the center doesn’t train for a situation like this.
This incident prompted the three KFD employees to be assigned to “administrative duties” as an internal investigation was ongoing
Wilbanks said today (Monday) KFD had completed its internal investigation, which resulted in those three employees from Engine 15 receiving disciplinary action from Fire Chief Stan Sharp. They were suspended for eight days and underwent additional EMS training before returning to duty.
Wilbanks added that the Tennessee Department of Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services is still conducting its own investigation and that additional action may be taken depending on their findings.
