A firefighter is under investigation for driving the unit to a home in another community, contrary to department policy

BATON ROUGE – A member of the Baton Rouge Fire Department’s Hazmat Division accused of driving his department-issued truck home to another community was under investigation Wednesday.

According to municipal regulations, this is not allowed.

The unit, marked BRFD, was seen exiting the highway in Albany last week. The truck then turns left and may re-enter the highway. Hazmat Transporter 97 is assigned to Sam Bourgeois, deputy chief of the BRFD’s Hazmat Division.

Bourgeois has been with the department since the late 1990s and has property on the edge of Livingston Parish, near the Albany exit, with a mailing address in Hammond.

On Wednesday, the BRFD investigated Bourgeois for driving his city truck a certain distance from Baton Rouge. It is a 24-mile radius from the intersection of Tom Drive and Wooddale Boulevard in the city limits. The Albany exit is approximately 30 miles from this location.

According to BRFD, the truck and similar vehicles are not tracked by GPS, and until the WBRZ investigative unit brought this to their attention, Fire Chief Michael Kimble said he knew nothing about it.