West Midlands fire chief sacked hours after withdrawing resignation

It's over. Oliver Lee will likely go down in the history books of the West Midlands Fire Service as its most outspoken and fascinating chief but his job at the helm is now officially terminated

Controversial fire chief Oliver Lee has been sacked, ending a dramatic month of to-and-fro, claim and counterclaim inside the West Midlands service. Lee, brought in as the service's interim chief executive in March, learned this afternoon in an email that his employment was being terminated.

The decision to end links with him came during a behind closed doors section of a meeting of the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority today. The members, made up of 15 local councillors, had been asked to consider whether to ratify the grounds of his suspension, on as yet unclear grounds.

A separate Section 5 legal notice had been issued that accused him of acting unlawfully and beyond his powers. Lee, a decorated Royal Marine colonel, resigned last week after learning of his initial suspension, only to make a dramatic u-turn over the weekend, asking fire authority members to permit him to withdraw his resignation.

READ MORE: Crunch West Midlands fire meeting live after two dramatic resignations

That threw the authority into further turmoil today, and it was forced to delay its monthly meeting for an hour to consider the implications. It spent much of today locked in private meetings discussing personnel issues.

After the meeting ended, the Fire Authority refused to comment on the outcome of its private deliberations. However, Mr Lee took to his favoured social media channel LinkedIn to announce his employment had been terminated.

He wrote: "Well, that’s been a few hard months of trying so hard to do the right thing in the face of the contrary. I felt over the weekend that the situation might have changed in the face of the chair’s resignation. (Fire authority chairman Greg Brackenridge stepped down on Saturday night, as reported here.)

"So, for 1,900 people, I made my first ever u turn, and withdrew my resignation. To help. Sadly, I have just received this from the army of lawyers employed by West Midlands Fire Service : ‘Your employment with WMFRA has terminated.’"

He went on to describe this as "an extraordinary lack of duty of care, just as I inherited and have tried so hard to change for the better. I did everything I could to help this special organisation. I am sorry that this was not good enough, which is on me."

We have approached the Fire Authority for comment. It marks another extraordinary moment in an unprecedented state of affairs inside the second biggest fire service in the country. The Home Office, under Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, is now closely scrutinising affairs, while the fire service Inspectorate have launched a full review of governance.

The catalyst was the circumstances surrounding the untimely death of Wayne Brown, then chief fire officer, and its aftermath, with Lee brought in as a steadying influence. A decorated Royal Marine, he has pulled no punches since his arrival, winning over many of the rank and file firefighters who felt he was 'on their side'.

The fire service confirmed it is now continuing its search for a new chief officer. Deputy chief fire officer Simon Barry remains in charge in the interim period. The Fire Authority is also without a chair, after Cllr Brackenridge's resignation at the weekend amid a flurry of stories linked to his military service.