By Curmudgeon
Tuesday's SLTrib is running a story by Kathy McKitrick on the burning of the two Leshemville slum houses that is considerably more detailed than the story that ran Saturday in the SE:
• Two vacant houses burned at Ogden RiverfrontThe Trib story reports that the Godfrey administration did not inform the Council that the burn would happen, about which the Council leadership is "disappointed." McKitrick reports that no one outside the fire department and the city's risk management people were aware in advance that the burn would take place. Mayor Godfrey said he didn't know when the burn was going to happen either --- he doesn't sweat the small stuff --- and he denied that he'd promised area residents would be notified before the burn.
McKitrick reported the Ogden FD chief insisting that this was both a training burn and a burn to assess the costs of demolition by fire. And she got Chief Mathieu to concede that no water --- no water --- was applied to the two burning buildings. The Trib reporter then went further, not simply accepting the Chief's account as complete. She talked to another experienced veteran fireman, who doubted much worthwhile training happens when firemen do not even enter a burning structure, as they did not in the Ogden burn.
A very interesting story, from several angles, and an illustration of what reporting that goes beyond accepting the word of official spokespersons can do for readers.
