Seattle Fire Department Battalion Chief Tamalyn Nigretto says it was like a slap in the face when she saw a lieutenant being interviewed on television about the Greenwood explosion.
Nothing against him, but she had been the incident commander — the ranking commander at the scene and in charge of the response — when the natural-gas blast leveled two buildings last week, yet she had not been asked to speak to the media.
She also was not invited to the fire station where Gov. Jay Inslee personally congratulated the fire crew, including some who, like Nigretto, were injured in the March?16 explosion.
For the 16-year battalion chief — one of two women to hold that rank in the department — those two slights were “the final straw.” Nigretto, 57, a member of the department since 1987, has been the incident commander at a number of high-profile call-outs, including the Greenwood explosion and September’s deadly Ride the Ducks crash. She says she has applied for, and been denied, promotions regularly since 1999.
Last Tuesday, Nigretto’s wife, Lise Ellner, wrote a letter to Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, Mayor Ed Murray and Inslee criticizing the department for failing to “recognize and appreciate Chief Nigretto’s extraordinary accomplishments in successfully managing Seattle’s most devastating and catastrophic incidents.”
The Fire Department says there was no deliberate attempt to ignore Nigretto or her contributions.
“None of this was intended, and I feel bad Chief Nigretto feels that way,” said Scoggins. “Chief Nigretto did a great job (at Greenwood). Everyone did a great job, but I didn’t reach out to anyone individually.”