ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell Fire Chief Ricky Burnette was promoted to the top job in September after his predecessor retired.
When he failed to return several phone messages, investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer tracked him down at a city council meeting to ask about his credentials.
Burnette got up and left the room as soon as he saw Fleischer.
Fleischer followed him into the hall and asked, "Don't you think the citizens of Roswell have a right to know you got caught lying on your resume, twice?"
Burnette replied, "Ma'am I'm very busy, I'm sorry.
Fleischer asked, "You don't have anything to say about that?"
Burnette only answered, "No ma'am. No comment."
Burnette knew Fleischer wanted to ask him about his high school diploma, which is a requirement for every certified firefighter in the state of Georgia.
"It's not negotiable as far as getting state certification," said Gordon Henderson, chairman of the Firefighter Standards and Training Council.
State records show Burnette was first certified in 1991 as an Alpharetta firefighter.
By 1995, he was a captain, until his boss found out he was also a liar.
Burnette had submitted a nearly illegible copy of a Chamblee High School diploma. Once Alpharetta city leaders found out it was a fake, they forced Burnette to resign.
"We look for people that are honest, good moral character, integrity," said Henderson, expressing qualities he expects from all firefighters, especially those who serve as fire chiefs.
In 2005, 10 years after Alpharetta forced Burnette out, the state council received a complaint stating that Burnette's certification was questionable because he did not satisfy the high school diploma or equivalency requirement.
The state opened a formal investigation, and found the allegations to be true.
The case file reads, "GFSTC determined there was not a valid high school diploma or GED on file for this individual."
"His certification was based on a lie until that point?" Fleischer asked Henderson.
He replied, "I understand that, but it was still not brought to the council."
When it finally was brought to the council, in September 2005, the council moved and seconded a motion to revoke Burnette's state certification. But after hearing from Burnette's chief, the council tabled the decision until its next meeting.
By then, Burnette had already risen to the rank of deputy chief in the Roswell Fire Department, without providing the city any proof of his credentials.
"The question that I have is, ‘How did that happen?’" said Roswell citizen activist Michael Nyden.
Fleischer tried to ask each of Roswell's City Council members and the mayor what they knew about the chief's background before choosing him for the job; she even sent copies of the records.
Not one of them wanted to talk about it on the record.
One council member who did not want to be identified stated she was not aware of Burnette's history, when she voted on his promotion to chief; she has since asked Mayor Jere Wood to investigate.
By phone, Wood declined to confirm that or anything else, citing a personnel matter.
Burnette has a long history with the City of Roswell.
He began volunteering with the Roswell Fire Department in 1986, which does not require a certification.
He started working full time for Roswell in January of 2000, five years after Alpharetta forced him to resign for lying.
In 2000, Roswell's fire chief at the time, Neal Butterworth, signed a sworn, notarized state document, saying Burnette met the high school requirement.
By the time the council actually voted on Burnette's fate in December 2005, Burnette had finally gotten his GED, so the council let him keep his certification.
"Right or wrong, they made the decision," said Henderson. "If it was the same thing happened today, I don't know that the same thing would have been done."
"People are allowed to make mistakes... once," said Nyden after seeing Burnette's records. "I'm certainly concerned and I think others will be too."
But Roswell city officials seem less concerned.
In 2005, a two-paragraph memo was added to Burnette's personnel file saying there was a complaint, the state reviewed his GED certificate, and no action was taken.
The memo does not mention the state findings that Burnette had lied for the first 15 years of his career, or that he had been forced to resign in Alpharetta.
Submitting falsified documents is considered a crime in Georgia, however neither the state nor Alpharetta forwarded the case for prosecution.
Fleischer requested Burnette's job application when he was hired full time in Roswell to see what he submitted for educational credentials. The city says there was no application for that job.
There is only one application on file for Burnette prior to him becoming chief.
Burnette left the date blank on the signature line, and the city official who received it left the date box blank as well.
That application says Burnette has his GED, which he received in October 2005, so a Roswell spokesperson told Fleischer it "must have been" submitted after that.
If true, that would mean Burnette worked as a fulltime Roswell firefighter for 15 years, and rose all the way to the level of deputy chief, without ever filling out a job application.
That undated application also contains no mention of Burnette's job with the Alpharetta Fire Department, even though the employment section clearly asks for ALL employment, with the word "all" underlined and capitalized.
When Burnette applied for the fire chief's job in September, he beat out a deputy chief with a master’s in public administration and a battalion chief with a college degree in fire science.
"That is probably a question of who he's friends with at the city," wondered Nyden. "I think a lot of people in this town would like to see the answers, too."
Fleischer tried for answers, but Burnette wasn't talking.
When she asked if he thinks honesty is an important quality for a fire chief, he simply walked away.
WSBTV
