Counties Probe Credentials of Firefighters’ Veteran Trainer

A 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Fire Department who has trained hundreds of firefighters in emergency medicine is under investigation for allegedly falsifying his credentials, officials confirmed last week.

The inquiry has prompted Ventura County Fire Department authorities to order immediate recertification training for their 344 firefighters, and Los Angeles County officials said they have removed Allen Smith as principal instructor for routine recertification training.

Smith, who coordinated training for more than 2,000 Los Angeles County firefighters and conducted classroom instruction for hundreds more in Ventura County, has not had a valid paramedic’s certificate since 1978, county health officials said.

Law enforcement officials in both counties have launched criminal investigations to determine whether Smith, a well-respected instructor who has also taught emergency medicine at Oxnard College, forged the 10-year certificate he presented to Ventura County health authorities earlier this year for teaching approval.

“We are looking into the technical question of whether a person who was involved in a key role for us was a certified paramedic at the time that he conducted the instruction,” said Don Hanson, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. “The person who is currently under investigation had been a certified paramedic at one time and is no longer a certified paramedic. The investigation hinges on that.”

Hanson declined to name Smith as the person under investigation, but Ventura County officials did.

Smith--who declined to be interviewed--was not involved in training paramedics, who provide medical aid to accident victims in the field, but he did instruct firefighters seeking to become qualified as emergency medical technicians.

Because fire engine companies are often the first to arrive at an accident scene, fire departments in many counties have for several years required firefighters to be certified as emergency medical technicians so that they can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, blood pressure checks and other basic emergency care.

Such training is often conducted by paramedics, who must undergo instruction and tests every two years in order to maintain their certificates in the rapidly changing field of emergency medicine.

Smith has acted primarily in an administrative role as principal instructor in emergency medicine recertification programs for Los Angeles County’s 2,000 firefighters, designing course syllabuses, preparing lesson materials and researching changes in the field, Hanson said.

Those who conducted classroom instruction were “perfectly qualified to do so,” he said.

In the Ventura County department, Smith has had a much more direct training role, providing basic classroom training in emergency medicine since about 1982, in addition to teaching emergency medicine classes at Oxnard College.

Barbara Brodfuehrer, emergency medical services administrator for the Ventura County Health Care Agency, said she was alerted to a potential problem when Smith presented a paramedic certificate from the state fire marshal’s office issued for a 10-year period.

Such credentials are issued only for two-year periods, Brodfuehrer said, and when she telephoned Los Angeles County authorities to double-check Smith’s credentials, she was told that his last valid certificate expired in 1978.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office is expected to decide early this week whether to file criminal charges, which could theoretically range from theft under false pretenses for earnings Smith received as an instructor to forgery, Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Weimer said. Los Angeles County authorities said the case is under investigation.

Officials in both counties said that Allen, who is still on duty as a firefighter, appears very knowledgeable and that his students have easily passed their state certification exams.

“I think there’s a real reason for the investigation to be taking place regarding his certificate, but the facts are that our program is recognized as a model for the (emergency medical technician) certificate, and he’s one of the reasons,” Hanson said. “He’s a very productive, hard-working, dedicated person here.”

Some officials said, however, that they fear potential legal liability in the event any firefighters certified under Smith should be sued by accident victims.

“The implications could be absolutely horrendous down the line, liability-wise,” said one official who asked not to be identified. “It’s just a real mess for everybody who’s involved.”