Deputy Fire Commissioner Fred Wheeler has resigned, Deadline Detroit has learned.

Wheeler, a veteran fire fighter and civilian official in the Detroit Fire Department, made news this week when he was confronted by Fox 2 Detroit reporter Charlie LeDuff, and Wheeler  slapped away the microphone in LeDuff's hand when he held it out to ask about conditions in Detroit firehouses.

Wheeler is the third high-ranking fire official to lose his job after a story by LeDuff.

In a statement, Mayor Dave Bing suggested the resignation was done under pressure.

“My administration has investigated the incident between Deputy Fire Commissioner Fred Wheeler and Fox2 reporter Charlie LeDuff," Bing's statement said. "We have a code of conduct for our appointees and we determined the Deputy Fire Commissioner violated that code in this unfortunate incident.”

 Wheeler, in his own statement, said: “Today, I tendered my resignation from the City of Detroit. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to work with Mayor Bing so that we had a successful Angel’s Night, were able to implement national standards for how fire events are conducted and that I was able to assist with the reorganization of the administrative staff so that it includes more professionals.”

In the incident, after the mic fell to the sidewalk, LeDuff picked it up and attempted to continue the interview, though Wheeler refused to answer questions.

LeDuff's story took place on the day city officials celebrated the ongoing construction of a $60 million headquarters for police and fire in the old MGM Casino on the Lodge Freeway near Howard in downtown Detroit.

The point of the story was that while the police and fire brass are getting a clean, new building, rank-and-file firefighters live and work in old stations that in some cases have problems with "raw sewage," as LeDuff put it. 

LeDuff was shown on camera walking along W. Larned toward fire headquarters downtown when he came across Wheeler, who was putting his briefcase into a minivan parked at the curb. 

“Deputy Commissioner,” LeDuff said, to which Wheeler responded: “You better get the fuck away.”

Then, as LeDuff stood before the deputy commissioner, he said: “Sir, you’re in charge of the maintenance of these fire houses. We’re spending $60 million on a new public safety headquarters and the houses we visited should be condemned. How do you respond?"

Wheeler responded by slapping LeDuff’s microphone out of his hand, saying:  “Well, you’re responsible for telling the truth. Why don’t you tell the truth?”

LeDuff and Wheeler have a history over other stories about the fire department. It is unclear if Wheeler was, indeed, in charge of fire buildings.

Wheeler served as interim fire commissioner after Bing asked for the resignations of Fire Commissioner James Mack and Deputy Fire Commissioner Seth Doyle in January 2011 after LeDuff broke a story that there had been a cover-up of the possible theft of a resident's wallet by a member of a west-side fire crew. 

The mayor eventually chose as commissioner Donald Austin, a veteran Los Angeles fire official who grew up in Detroit. Wheeler then resumed his job as a deputy commissioner.

LeDuff has reported other fire department stories, including exposes of chronic problems with department rigs. With his colleagues at Fox 2, he has chronicled incidents in which several Detroiters suffered critical health problems and died before the city's understaffed EMS operation was able to  get a truck on the scene.

LeDuff: Some Detroit Fire Stations Need to be Condemned: MyFoxDETROIT.com