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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 21, 1992                   TAG: 9201210332
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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GUN ACCIDENT PROBED

The Roanoke Fire Department launched an internal investigation Monday after a firefighter accidentally shot himself in an ankle at Station No. 2 on Noble Avenue Northwest.

District Chief Garry Basham said Lt. C.E. Wells was wounded around 8 a.m. He was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Basham said officials are trying to determine if Wells violated any policies or city ordinances in having a loaded gun on city-owned property.

"I don't know if we have a specific policy on firearms at work," said Kenneth Cronin, the city's personnel manager. "It is something that hasn't come up."

Wells told officials he had dropped a duffle bag containing the gun. A bullet fired upward through the lower part of his ankle, exited the top of his ankle and lodged in the ceiling of the station's locker room.

Basham said no other firefighters were in the area at the time.

Another firefighter alerted Capt. Audie Ferris, who found Wells sitting in a chair holding his left foot. Ferris and another firefighter wrapped Wells' foot in gauze until the rescue squad arrived.

Ferris dug the bullet out of the ceiling and gave it to paramedics, Basham said.

Roanoke police have ruled the shooting accidental.

Wells told police the gun was not cocked when he put it in the duffle bag. He said the safety on the gun may have been worn out, police said.

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