-
EPSO Employee of the Year - 2006
Name: Robert Finley
Current Assignment: Assistant Deputy Fire Marshall
Deputy Robert Finley's nomination is found below.
ADFM Finley has recently been overwhelmed by the amount of hazardous material responses within the county as of late. His biggest and most notable challenge was the chemistry lab at Widefield High School. Approximately three weeks ago he received a call from the principal regarding some miscellaneous chemicals in their lab. ADFM Finely immediately recognized that the school had several prohibited and dangerous chemicals. He also identified several aged chemicals that were very unstable. He immediately assembled the team and had the most dangerous chemicals destroyed immediately. Recognizing that there was such a large amount of chemicals he had the storage area sealed off. Over the next two weeks Rob orchestrated a mitigation operations plan. He brought in experts from the County and the State to inventory and classify all the chemicals within this lab. He assembled and coordinated a comprehensive action plan to recover, destroy or mitigate the multitude of chemicals. This Herculean effort was completed in addition to his other duties. ADFM Finley worked tirelessly over 120 hours in those two weeks to coordinate the efforts of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team, Colorado State Chemist, County Environmental, Fort Carson and the El Paso County Hazardous Material Teams, El Paso County Reserve Unit and Fire Rehab. The operation was scheduled on a weekend so as not to disrupt the school. Execution to completion proceeded without a single glitch. The operation ran over 16 hours with the destruction or recovery of over 990 chemicals. This was a very precarious operation that was planned down to the minute detail. Mr. Finley's attention to detail, dedication to his job and professionalism rendered this extremely dangerous operation/situation safe without incident. This was a monumental tasking that brought great credit to the El Paso County Sheriff's office.
Rob also excelled during the October 26th snow storm. Realizing that Ellicott Fire Department lacked the capability to effectively communicate with the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) he immediately responded to their main base of operations. While there he established a direct line of communication with the EOC. This line of communication is imperative in order for the Fire Department to receive critical equipment support during the blizzard. Not only did ADFM Finley provide this communication he also assisted in the rescue of several stranded motorist. He did not stop there; he also tracked and accounted for all the vehicles that were reported to be stranded in the Ellicott area. The storm reached such intensity that he was stranded in the fire station until the next day. Mr. Finley realized a potential for a failure within the emergency response to the blizzard. Without the least mental reservation he took it upon himself and placed himself in harms way to correct the situation. His selfless act resulted in an operation that allowed all of those stranded with the Ellicott area to be rescued and accounted for.