Westminster Fire Chief Put on Leave to Await Review : Evaluation: D’Wayne Scott has been surrounded by controversy since he turned down the Los Angeles Fire Department’s requests for help during the recent riots.

A fire chief who refused to send his firefighters to the riot-torn streets of South Los Angeles out of concern for their safety has been placed on administrative leave, the city manager said Monday.

Fire Chief D’Wayne Scott, 51, was placed on leave with pay last Wednesday by City Manager Jerry Kenny, nearly one month after the chief turned down requests from the Los Angeles Fire Department for help in battling the blazes during the riots following the Rodney G. King verdict.

“I’m very disappointed,” Scott said Monday. “I think (city officials) are making a mistake. It’s not the correct thing to do. I don’t understand where they are coming from.”

Kenny declined to comment about the action, saying it was a confidential “personnel matter.” Other city officials could not be reached for comment late Monday.

In a tersely worded three-paragraph release, Kenny said that Scott would be on leave pending the outcome of an “ongoing performance evaluation.” In the meantime, Battalion Chief Don Herr has been named the interim acting fire chief.

Scott said he had received an annual performance review from Kenny, his supervisor, at the end of last year and was graded “outstanding or excellent” in every category. He said he did not think another evaluation was proper.

Although Kenny did not publicly link Scott’s leave to his April 29 decision not to send firefighters to Los Angeles, the fire chief said he believes that it was at the root of the city’s action.

Scott’s decision created a storm of controversy and upset firefighters and members of the City Council who thought the chief had balked on a statewide mutual aid agreement which unites fire departments in times of crisis.

Scott, however, defended his decision on the grounds that the safety of his firefighters could not be assured.

“If the same thing were to take place today and the circumstances were the same, I would do the same thing without a doubt,” Scott said. “It’s not proper procedure to send firefighters into an area unprotected. There wasn’t absolute protection for the crews that went in there.”

He also noted that assistance under the mutual aid agreement is not mandatory.

At least two firefighters were wounded during the Los Angeles rioting. One of them, Santa Ana firefighter Lenny Edelman, 32, was shot in the left thigh while battling fires April 30.

On the first night of the riots, a total of 55 fire engines from Orange County went north to help fight the blazes. No other chief in the county denied the Los Angeles Fire Department’s request for help.

Six of the Westminster firefighters circumvented Scott’s decision the next day by volunteering as members of a local firefighters union to form a unit to go to Los Angeles. The six, who were all off duty at the time, car-pooled to Los Angeles.

That same day, the City Council overturned Scott and let the Fire Department help in Los Angeles. The council also met in an hourlong closed-door session to discuss Scott’s actions but ended with no stated conclusion.

“I think the council overreacted,” Scott said Monday. “I think that they should have consulted me before they overturned my decision.”

The president of the Westminster Firefighters Union had been openly critical of Scott’s decision immediately after the incident. But on Monday, union representatives declined to comment about Scott’s forced leave.

Scott acknowledged that some of his firefighters “did not agree” with his actions but said his peers subsequently supported him during a meeting two weeks ago of the Orange County Fire Chiefs Assn.

At that meeting the chiefs agreed that procedures concerning firefighter protection be reviewed and that police should escort firefighters in violent situations.

Even though he is unhappy with his current situation, Scott said something “beneficial may come out of this” if procedures to protect firefighters are made clear for future incidents.

“Hopefully next time there won’t be any doubt about safety and protection for firefighters,” Scott said.