'Personal Conduct' of Fairfax County Fire's Ethics Officer Under Investigation

• PHOTO: Sharon Bulova, chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, issued a statement Tuesday regarding the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department. County photo

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FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- The chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Sharon Bulova, is weighing in on the problems at the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue. Her office issued this statement on Tuesday afternoon:

“The Board of Supervisors directs the County Executive to retain an outside third party consultant to assess the working environment within the Fire and Rescue Department, focusing on Equal Employment issues, workforce morale, mental health assistance, and communication issues. County staff will develop a more formal scope of work for this study. Fire and Rescue Chief Richie Bowers fully supports this initiative.”

Bulova's statement comes in the wake of several high-profile incidents including:

• A female firefighter and paramedic, Nicole Mittendorff, committed suicide, with some saying she was a victim of bullying online and at the fire department
• a female firefighter, Magaly Hernandez, is suing the fire department for sexual harassment
• the person responsible for looking into personnel issues at the department, Guy Morgan, is being investigated, after posting photos of scantily clad women on his personal Facebook page, as reported by WUSA-9
• the fire chief only took action with Morgan after the WUSA-9 report and hasn't issued any statement about Morgan

As of late last week, Morgan was placed on leave during what was called an external investigation.

What's being investigated? "His personal conduct," a spokeswoman said Tuesday afternoon.

Is it an external investigation?

When asked who was conducting the investigation, the spokeswoman said "we have other people in our office who are qualified" to handle the investigation.

Stay tuned.