‘A black mark on the dept.’: Gee and Ursula rip Seattle Fire’s fake COVID-19 vaccine card allegations
Jun 19, 2025, 5:01 AM
Closeup of the Seattle Fire Department insignia on an emergency response vehicle. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
An independent investigation into the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) suggested that officials obtained blank vaccine cards and falsely claimed their compliance with Seattle’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement, according to PubliCola.
“I think it’s just a black mark on the department, and I think it’s disappointing that, at the time, Chief Scoggins didn’t do anything,” KIRO host Ursula Reutin said. “Now, today, can you do anything? ‘Well, you know, it’s water under the bridge,’ but I think it’s just a black mark for the department.”
City investigates Seattle Fire Department’s fake vaccine card allegations
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The city launched an investigation into the SFD after Lance Fisher told Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins that people in the department were buying and selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards, according to PubliCola.
“This story is disappointing, we’re years out from the pandemic, and it is now up to even more debate in terms of vaccine, no vaccine,” Ursula said on “The Gee and Ursula Show.” “It’s disappointing to me because I wouldn’t have expected this from the Seattle Fire Department. Those are folks who had close contact with people in the middle of a pandemic.”
Seattle Fire chief allegedly responded that ‘it wasn’t his problem’
Lieutenant Fisher explained that when he notified Chief Scoggins, he responded that “it wasn’t his problem,” PubliCola reported.
“I’m just shocked how we have become a place of picking and choosing when things are bad or when it’s a crime, and when it is or when it isn’t,” KIRO host Gee Scott said. “You guys don’t want to do anything about it? All right, can we at least release the names of who did this?”
Kim Schmanke, a spokesperson for the SFD, said that no one from SFD had faced disciplinary action for falsifying their vaccine cards, and did not know how the firefighters would have obtained them, PubliCola stated.
“I want to put an earmark on this page to remind people that in this country, there are certain professions or certain levels of prestige and status where you get away with things that someone else doesn’t,” Gee said.
Listen to the full conversation below.
Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.
