UNCOVERED: A Sumter firefighter says he witnessed years of misconduct. The city denies his allegations.
The City of Sumter dismissed allegations that high-ranking staff members disregarded ethical rules, saying the longtime firefighter who made the accusations is a disgruntled employee.
The city’s response comes as it fends off a lawsuit from Brian Christmas, a former assistant fire chief who had been at Sumter Fire Department since 1997.
Christmas alleges employees at the city and Sumter Fire Department ignored a years-long pattern of questionable conduct by department leadership. When Christmas tried to raise concerns, he said, he was defamed by the city and pushed out of his job without cause.
Christmas launched his suit in May.
In its response, filed July 18, the city denied the allegations and offered explanations for the alleged misconduct. It said Christmas was simply upset because he wanted to be the fire chief, and the current chief did not have plans to retire.
The city said Christmas was an employee with little interest in remaining at Sumter Fire Department.
According to the city, Christmas told Assistant Fire Chief Ernie Dollard he planned to retire and that he was frustrated that Fire Chief Karl Ford wasn’t retiring, meaning he wouldn’t be able to be the chief. And he was actively looking for another job, even as he complained about misconduct, the city alleges.
Lawyers for Christmas did not respond to a request for comment on those allegations.
Christmas officially retired in late 2023 before taking a job in North Carolina as a fire chief. The lawsuit says his retirement was far from voluntary, though.
The Post and Courier partnered with The Sumter Item to look into the allegations as part of its Uncovered initiative, which aims to shine light on questionable government conduct and the systems that leave it unchecked.
Sumter Fire Department, operated jointly by Sumter County and City of Sumter, handles emergencies across the county, serving roughly 140,000 people.
In his suit, Christmas accused fire officials of a range of wrongdoing, including using company time and vehicles for personal reasons as well as investigating suspicious fires involving a relative, despite a clear conflict of interest. He named both Ford and Dollard in the suit.
On Oct. 28, 2020, firefighters responded to a massive fire at the old VB Williams Furniture Co., a 500,000-square-foot warehouse off South Lafayette Drive and Fulton Street in southern Sumter. The building was owned by Dollard’s uncle.
It was one of several fires at the property over four years, leading to public speculation that the building’s owner may have been involved in setting the fires, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit says that when Dollard arrived at the scene, he took over operations. That was a clear conflict of interest, Christmas reportedly told Ford, the fire chief.
The city denied Dollard took over and said he was instead there to fight the fire. The city’s response admitted Christmas raised concerns but said it would have been irresponsible to require a firefighter to leave the scene rather than aid in extinguishing the blaze.
Christmas also alleged Ford made repeated trips, using a department pickup truck, during business hours to pick up golf carts, ATVs and trailers he had purchased to resell using govdeals.com. He also used government gas cards for transportation, including once for a personal trip to Florida for a cruise, the lawsuit says.
Dollard was involved in the vehicle purchases as well, according to the lawsuit.
The city acknowledged that staff use city vehicles for personal reasons, that Ford visited govdeals.com on his work computer and that he does purchase and resell vehicles.
The city’s lawyers argued that because of the nature of their job, firefighters must be able to respond quickly to emergencies, and therefore it is reasonable for staff to use vehicles for personal reasons.
The city said Ford does not recall using a city gas card for his trip to Florida.
It was in 2023 that Christmas decided he had no choice but to report the conduct to an outside agency, according to his lawsuit. He spoke with the South Carolina State Ethics Commission, a Sumter County Council member and SLED.
SLED referred Christmas’ concerns to Sumter Police Department, which informed Deron McCormick, the city manager.
In a meeting with the city’s organizational improvement director on Oct. 18, Christmas alleges McCormick pressured him to retire, saying Christmas had gone “outside the family” and “needed to be punished,” according to the lawsuit.
The city rejected those allegations, describing the meeting as a reasonable discussion of Christmas’ options: staying in his job, resigning, retiring or going to work somewhere else.
According to the city’s response, Christmas was given several days to consider his decision. But he instead submitted plans to retire soon afterward.
Christmas accused Dollard and Dollard’s brother of defamatory statements made after his retirement, such as that Christmas was “run off” from the fire department because “he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”
The city denied those allegations.
Christmas also contested what he described as his forced retirement, but the Employee Grievance Committee unanimously dismissed the grievance, according to a letter sent to Christmas.
The committee found that Christmas had not followed proper procedure in reporting his concerns and that he failed to provide evidence of misconduct.
“The Grievance Committee finds that you had a good career with the City of Sumter Fire Department, but your retirement should remain in place,” the letter reads.
The suit alleges that the city wrongfully discharged Christmas, defamed him and violated the South Carolina Whistleblower Act. It also states that Ford and Dollard engaged in civil conspiracy.
Christmas has asked for damages for lost wages, reputational harm, diminished earning capacity, pain, suffering, stress and anxiety.