Photo by randomduck

In case you missed it over the weekend, yesterday City Desk reported the bizarre news that D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin went to the Nats game and subsequently shut down the ballpark’s long-running fireworks display for the foreseeable future. The ballpark reportedly has the correct permits and nothing unusual happened at Sunday’s game, so what’s the deal? Apparently, some bits of debris fell on the chief himself:

Fire Department spokesperson Alan Etter confirmed the basic account via e-mail.

“[Rubin] said debris did fall on him – he was not hurt,” Etter wrote. “He did have a safety concern, that’s why the decision was made – so the process can be examined and adjusted, if necessary.”

The story also notes that Rubin would have had to overrule his own on-scene fire inspector to make such a call, and that the chief apparently made a fuss while he was doing it: ‘Rubin at one point told authorities: “Do you know who I am?”‘

We’ve got a call into the Nationals to find out how they’re dealing with the situation. Stay tuned!