Board to question fire chief

STAFFORD — County Administrator Anthony Romanello has asked Fire Chief Rob Brown to speak before the Stafford County Board of Supervisors next month in response to concerns raised at a May 12 meeting of more than 100 county volunteer firefighters.

The June 17 meeting will take place at the Stafford County Administration Center at 1 p.m. and will be open to the public, according to Cathy Riddle, Stafford County spokeswoman.

Volunteers are taking issue with the county over the lack of a retirement program, specifically called the Length of Service Awards Program. The LOSAP program allows volunteers 65 years or older to receive $10 per month for each year of service provided. A volunteer who worked 25 years would benefit by $250 per month.

Currently there is no retirement system available for volunteer firefighters in the county. Stafford Supervisor Paul Milde, R-Aquia says that should change.

“The fire department has grown faster than any other department by far, and we have doubled their budget,” said Milde. “Not even the sheriff's department has grown as much.”

Milde said that $350,000 was removed from Stafford Fire and EMS’s operating budget last year to pay for LOSAP, but the volunteers have yet to see any of the money.

The work session will also address allegations of poor recruitment practices and the shrinking numbers of volunteers in the county.

Chief Brown was unavailable for comment and is conducting research for the report he will present to the board of supervisors on June 17, according to Riddle.
“It would be premature for him to comment on the fire and rescue department's response to those issues at this time because he is still gathering the information,” said Riddle.

Criminal background checks are conducted for each volunteer who applies to work in the county. The volunteers say the process is too lengthy and is driving would-be volunteers to surrounding jurisdictions.

“We need to increase the staffing here in the department, but we also need to maintain standards,” said Matt Warren, a career lieutenant in the Stafford Fire and Rescue Department.

A Hampton Oaks resident who spoke at the May 12 volunteer meeting said he watched his neighbor's house burn to the ground more than two years ago, as firefighters erupted into fistfights over who was in charge at the scene.

“A lot of people did the wrong thing, said Warren. “When we got there it was clear that we had to protect the houses next door. It was a bad wind driven fire, but there was no fistfight.”

The department admits there is a backlog of volunteer applications awaiting official review, but officials say they are in the process of restructuring the organization's applicant processing procedures.

Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer, R-Garrisonville, said that any money removed from the daily operating budget to pay for LOSAP is money that could have gone to pay rescue workers to work overtime, and provide for better fire coverage.

“Their volunteer numbers are dropping because they refuse to change their culture,” said Dudenhefer. “The chief is being undermined in his efforts by people who have no education and training in any way on the subject.”

Rob Brown, Stafford's first fire chief, was hired more than three years ago to start a mixed department with both career and volunteer staff.

Dudenhefer said that his district has seen fire and rescue response times slow drastically, leaving patients and victims waiting longer for emergency assistance.

Statistics released by the county may substantiate the supervisor’s claim, as Stafford’s Career EMS staff answered 87 percent of all 911 calls between
January and April of this year. Just 13 percent of all EMS calls were answered by all of the county’s 13 volunteer associations combined, during the same time period.

Career staff makes up just 27 percent of the total fire and rescue department of 344 people, according to Riddle. Despite the major differences in the numbers, the county says it aims to be one rescue department.

“When that rescue crew arrives on scene, the person who called is not going to ask whether or not that person is a volunteer or career firefighter — they just need help,” said Riddle.

Mark Stone, public information officer for Stafford Fire and Rescue, said the May 8 tornado in Berea was a huge test of the department’s ability to act as one.

“We are a combination fire and rescue department, and we could not have done what we did during the tornado without everyone’s help,” said Stone.