The Fire Critic is sponsoring The First Due Blog Carnival (http://firecritic.com/blog-carnival/) and it is the first-ever blog carnival for firefighting. All bloggers are welcomed to submit a blog by no later than March 22, 2010 and the topic for the first installment is:

 I AM A Firefighter Because…

I grew up believing that firefighters were the bravest, most honorable and unselfish people that walked the Earth.

I took this belief that I held of firefighters and put it into practice by becoming one.

It was necessary that I did this for ME. That may appear to be selfish, but please allow me to explain.

Quite simply; I would have most likely died a rebellious, young man had I not embraced the ideals of a firefighter.

I realize that this swims against the tide of the usual “to help someone in need” crowd, but at the time, I was the one in need of help and in some respects, it DID involve a fire; but it was the fire that was burning inside of me and about to flash over.

I also credit my participation in team sports while growing up for helping me to return to the right path. I believe that firefighting is the ultimate team for the extreme.

You see; because of my radical, rebellious behavior as a young adult, I destroyed my relationship with my parents.

A simple “I’m sorry” wasn’t going to fix the damage that I inflicted upon them

No; this was going to have to be a visible, spiritual change in me-one that they could see and feel and to know that it was genuine.

So, I joined the local fire department and the rest, as they say, is history.

I carried my mother’s compassion, because she was always the one who cooked and cleaned for us, got us safely to wherever we needed to go and took care of us when we were sick. They were perfect attributes for my time with the ambulance service.

Dad was a veteran of the Great Depression and World War II. He educated himself by reading whatever he could get his hands on, had a keen aptitude for taking things apart to discover what made them work, wasn’t afraid to work hard and get dirty, used colorful language if the situation called for it and was the most honest person that I have ever known. He would have been a GREAT firefighter.

To apologize to them and to honor them, I took the values that they had instilled in me as a youngster, misplaced as a young adult and re-discovered some years later and became a firefighter; someone who was more like them/someone that they could be proud of.

And though they never told me, they never had to tell me that they were proud of me. Others that they had told were telling me!

Mom always told me that when our tones dropped, Dad would not leave the scanner until we had completed our call. What she didn’t tell me was that SHE was sitting right next to Dad. How cool is that?

They are both gone now, but are still with me every day, reminding me of why I became a firefighter and why I still love the fire service.

Because, even though I became a firefighter for them and for me, I also learned from them that helping in a time of need is an innately, uniquely, precious commodity that is more valuable than the rarest diamond. You could NEVER buy the kind of hope and support that we provide to our neighbors in need or the pride that it brings to us as ones who are able to affect the outcome!

Yeah; I’m still telling Mom and Dad that I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry for the sacrifices that my family and I have made so that I could be a better person-a better firefighter.

And those ideals that I found in firefighters?

They were right there in front of me; in my parents all along and passed on to me.

It’s funny how Life can take your journey full circle!

TCSS.

Art

Please visit: www.fireemsblogs.com and my blog at: www.chiefreasonart.com

The subject of this blog was a news story that was posted here: http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/florida-volunteers-upset-over.

The focus of this story has always been on the volunteer fire department’s reaction to the ordinance, when in fact; it should have been on the city manager and her appetite for control.

A quick history lesson of Davenport, Florida city politics finds a community with money that sits just 10 miles from Walt Disney World. Now; I say “with money”, because they have a Commissioner-Manager form of government, 6 paid firefighters and 2 part-time firefighters that is headed by a “part time regular” Fire Administrator. Then, you have the City Manager running things. This is a position that, when it was created, took at least 17 months to fill by the city council. One can only speculate as to why it took so long. Yes; there is a mayor, but apparently, he just runs the meetings and cuts ribbons. Amy Arrington, the city manager rules the city.

Amy Arrington had not held a city manager’s position until Davenport, Florida. She had previously served as assistant city manager for Haines City, Florida. She was hired in Davenport as assistant city manager. When the city manager resigned, Arrington was named interim city manager at a salary of $65,000 a year. The previous city manager, Ryan Taylor, was making $66,950 when he left.

According to my notes, the city and Arrington entered into negotiations for her to take over as city manager, but could not agree on salary and benefits. Arrington showed her team spirit by demanding $76,000 a year in salary, 15 paid leave days and two weeks vacation. Demonstrating the art of compromise, she “settled” for $75,000 a year in salary, no paid leave days, but THREE weeks vacation. I would think that there would also be the standard insurance benefits, retirement, per diems, continuing education and car or car allowance benefits as well.

And, apparently, though she was officially hired on 12/3/07 to the city manager’s position, her start date was adjusted to 8/6/07. My guess is that this is the date when she took over as interim city manager, so there was almost four months of retro pay. Let’s call it a “signing bonus” of sorts.

What does this have to do with the volunteer fire department? PLENTY.

In Florida, county fire departments are common. Davenport, Florida was being serviced by a volunteer fire department and had for about 86 years. Then, after the hurricane season in 2004, the city hired six full time firefighters and supplemented them with the volunteers. I could find no acrimonious articles on any rifts between the full time and volunteer firefighters.

Then, Arrington was tasked with hiring a fire administrator for the purpose of bringing the full time and volunteer firefighters under one leader and resisting the advances of Polk County Fire Service, who had proposed in early 2009 to take over fire service for Davenport. Residents had made it clear that they wanted a local fire department

Arrington’s first hire lasted TWO, whole days. Hmmm; that’s a red flag.

On October 16, 2009, Arrington announced that she had hired Stuart McCutcheon as her “part time regular” fire administrator. His part time salary was set at $25,500 a year. McCutcheon finished work on an AAS degree in fire science on April 12, 2006 from Daytona Beach Community College. I did an exhaustive search and that is all I could find on him (However; I did find a press release from March 3, 2010 by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics that dismissed a charge against Stuart McCutcheon for “no legal sufficiency”).

So, with someone in place that Arrington could control, the wheels were in motion to gain control of the volunteers.

Many of the fire service websites have been discussing this fire department from the perspective that it is because of the ordinance requiring the volunteers to apply for the “auxiliary” positions under the new “regime” (http://theledger.com/article/20100121/NEWS/1215083).

But, in my opinion, it started months before when the volunteer chief, Don Pelt, was suspended on November 16, 2009 by Stuart McCutcheon, the newly minted fire administrator for responding to a medical call in Davenport. Note that the date is exactly one month after the fire administrator was hired. And consider too, that, the city council, by not voting a show of support for their chief, was showing support for the city manager and the fire administrator (http://www.theledger.com/article/20091123/NEWS/911235073).

Then, city manager extraordinaire Amy Arrington was instructed by the council to get the matter with the fire department resolved, but the council was leaving it to Arrington to solve.

At the next city council meeting and over objections by the crowd that filled the chambers, the council passed on first reading the new ordinance. (http://www.theledger.com/article/20100126/NEWS/1265034). With the distinct possibility that the volunteer department was out of service, the mayor asked the city manager to meet with them, but Arrington made it very clear that she would, but that she supported the ordinance.

This led to the question by the mayor if Davenport could afford full time fire services. (http://www.theledger.com/article/20100209/news/2095917). If you look at savings in salaries alone, it amounted to approximately $190,000. I’d be curious to know what Polk County Fire Services quoted them for protection. Plus, because the salaries of the full time firefighters were much lower than surrounding departments, they could be easily lured away by higher pay. Without a volunteer department to supplement, you would be increasing the possibilities of overtime, hiring more full time or part time, longer response times, injuries and relying on mutual aid for coverage.

As I said from the beginning, this was never about fire service delivery, but rather, control; a controlling city manager who controls the city council, who controls the fire administrator, who now controls the much smaller fire department. (http://www.theledger.com/article/20100223/NEWS/2235073).

Don’t believe me? Here is a quote from the news article: “The purpose of the ordinance, they (Arrington/McCutcheon) have said, is to give the city full control of the department and a single chain of command with Arrington and McCutcheon at the top.

And THAT is where I have my biggest problem with the whole mess.

Can someone please explain to me how a city manager becomes the top of the ladder in a fire department, in broad daylight and in full view of a city council?

TCSS.

This article is protected by federal copyright laws and published under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella. It cannot be reproduced in any form without the expressed written permission of the author.

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The website article can be read here: http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/niosh-investigation-report-26

I just finished reading the NIOSH report on the February 23, 2008 apparatus rollover that took the life of 33 year-old Shane Stewart of the Ault-Pierce, Colorado Fire Protection District. The NIOSH report can be read here: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200805.html.

The report states that Captain Shane Stewart died after being ejected from the cab and was then rolled over by the apparatus. He was declared dead from multiple traumatic injuries at the scene.

Though it is true that the failure to wear the seat belt was front and center stage in this report, it also raised an issue that I had not seen or even considered before I read this report. There was an issue with the cab compartment “layout”.

It appears that the driver of this unit could NOT reach the mobile radio unit from the drivers’ seat with the seatbelt on! If this were common knowledge, then the experienced driver might not bother to put the seatbelt on at all and the less experienced might attempt to unbelt while enroot to the scene, if he wanted to talk on the unit’s mobile radio. (It should be noted that investigators conducted several tests, using several different drivers to reach these conclusions.)

When going to an incident scene, an apparatus driver should just drive; right?

The second person in the cab should be operating the radio; right?

How many departments have ever called back to the station to request another rig, knowing that it would come with just a driver, even though your SOP may state “a minimum of two per unit” or whatever that minimum is?

A straight stretch of road in good weather conditions and travelling at approximately 45 mph in a tanker is NOT a recipe for an accident.

In this incident, it appears that things went terribly wrong when the driver attempted to reach towards the radio to change to the fire ground frequency.  Even with a hands-free system, changing channels would require the radio operator to reach.

So, the location of the mobile radio in the cab becomes very important.

Anything that distracts the driver from his primary duty of driving is cause for concern, but, as the sole occupant as in this case, you still need to communicate.

Could the driver have used Dispatch as a relay to the fire ground, which, in this case, was a medical call requesting a landing zone set up for a med-evac helicopter, instead of attempting to change channels while enroot?

I don’t have the answer for that.

Could the driver have used a portable radio with lapel mike instead of the mobile radio? I don’t know what type of radio system they have, so I can’t answer it.

Does driving and shifting gears with a floor-mounted shifter create a distraction that is different than driving and changing channels or even talking on a radio? The report would lead us to believe that a second person in the cab should handle all non-driving tasks.

So, if some believe that a driver should keep both hands on the steering wheels at all times, then all trucks will have to be built with automatic transmissions.

Would a hard-fast SOP that requires two persons minimum per rig be a solution? I would have to say “yes”, because, if you have a driver who is driving AND shifting gears; then add to that, the radio tasks, then I believe that the drivers’ focus would be diminished.

Would you locate the radio in closer proximity to the driver? Would you have it done professionally or would you do it yourselves to save money? Are you aware that even though you do the work that you must still be in compliance with NFPA 1901?

Would you consider hands-free, voice activated headsets with a radio frequency protocol that allows for apparatus drivers to communicate without switching channels while driving?

My final point is that we have to make sure that apparatus drivers are trained and tested at least twice a year in the apparatus that they will be expected to operate and done in accordance with NFPA 1002, 1451, 1500 and 1901.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration exempts the occupants of fire trucks and rescue vehicles from wearing seatbelts when moving and I believe that this goes back to the days when we could ride on the tailboards and in open cabs, so that law needs changed so that it parallels the many initiatives by our national organizations to get everyone to buckle up.

Everyone who spoke of Captain Shane Stewart said that he wore his seatbelt religiously. See news article here: http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080223/NEWS/866066115.

He left behind a wife and two small children.

Let’s honor him and his family by learning from him.

TCSS.

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I have received several messages from readers who have found themselves re-reading “The Futility of Our Humility” (http://www.firefighternation.com/profiles/blogs/the-futility-of-our-humility).

Normally, I would be ecstatic that people found my stuff so compelling that they would read it again-a dream come true!

Unfortunately, I think that I have confused the point of my point.

Where I believe that the central issue lies is with the use of “arrogant/arrogance”. Some are reading into the blog that I am pointing the fickle finger directly at THEM.

When I describe a thought or an act that I believe lends itself to what I believe is arrogance, then the only thing that remains is for the reader to decide if it could fit their situation and if so, what has been done about it or what WILL be done about it.

What I did in my previous blog was to describe what I believed were feelings of acts of arrogance. As I have stated on numerous occasions is, “If it applies, then apply it. If not, then disregard”. There is no need to take offense if it is not your situation.

When I write, I want it to entertain, to challenge your thinking and hopefully, to allow you to learn and to offer your perspective.

Often times, I will offer straight-forward opinions that can be agreed or disagreed with or used as a trigger for a discussion point.

In my opinion and in some ways, some in the fire service have been arrogant and in the process, have lost some humility.

If that were not the case, then why are we so incensed or surprised that cities are making firefighter staffing cuts?

I never said that I agreed with it and completely understand the many downsides to such kamikaze budgeting, but there is a sense of arrogance in our response back to the city’s, brainless trust and at the expense of other city employees.

Now; this may sound “arrogant”, but I think that we all realize that our self worth and our value as public servants have higher skill sets than, as an example, one who runs the landfill and I am NOT saying that the landfill isn’t important. I am simply saying that, in my jaded opinion, it takes more skill to read smoke and to run HazMat operations.

However; I think that it is wrong to believe that deeper cuts will be made elsewhere to preserve every public safety position.

How can a fire department argue about staffing issues that cannot be seen with the naked eye of the public?

We all know as sports fans what happens to a football team, if they are one man short on defense. The other team will have the advantage, at least for that one play. It could result in a touchdown for one team and spell defeat for the other team.

So; with that example, you have a properly staffed team winning and one that isn’t properly staffed losing.

Another good sports analogy is the hockey power play. The team with more players has the definite advantage.

Now; I am in no way minimizing or trivializing the loss of firefighter staffing with these sports comparisons; I am saying that it is not easy for citizens to know the effects, unless they have been educated on the clear relationship between lower staffing and the safety of fewer firefighters responding.

I am saying that, with these comparisons, the same holds true with fire departments. Unfortunately, the public can’t see it when we are under-staffed. It is not as obvious as the hockey power play.

And simply telling them is no longer effective, but city governments are telling their citizens that they won’t notice a difference and THAT is gaining support, because the public may not know any better.

But, how can this be? If the public thinks that we can get by with less NOW, then they must think that we were over-staffed to begin with.

Well, maybe not according to the NFPA standards, but citizens can’t relate at that level and since it won’t cost anything unless something goes wrong, city managers are willing to roll those dice for the cost savings. This is what I call “uber arrogance” on the part of city governments!

In my opinion, if a fire department allows that very first firefighter to be cut due to budget issues, then another and another will follow. Any chief smart enough to understand manpower requirements would NEVER allow it to happen, because once you lose them; how easy is it going to be to get them back?

A chief worth his weight would not cut firefighter positions to balance a budget. They might instead sweep their various budget funds to the bone, including over-time and maybe re-arrange schedules for staff and administrative positions. HIS humility for where HE came from should weigh heavily on his mind.

But, mayors, city managers and city councils trade their humility for arrogance faster than they can recite their oath of office.

My point is that, either city governments are arrogant to believe that public safety cuts will have little or no effect on service, have little or no effect on the safety of those employees OR are aware of it, but are arrogant enough to believe that the risks are worth the cuts.

My other point is that fire departments may be arrogant to believe that the citizens will side with firefighters based upon our proffered emotional statements rather than accurate examples of increases in accidents, injuries or even death as a result of staffing cuts. Providing information from LODD reports where it was specifically stated that low staffing contributed to the death would be appropriate to use.

It’s hard to be humble when the errors of arrogance are not properly and accurately addressed and it might very well be a failure of our leadership to properly assess the community’s needs and their firefighters’ needs.

TCSS.

The article is protected by federal copyright law under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella. It is written and submitted by Art Goodrich a.k.a. ChiefReason. This article or any other article submitted under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella cannot be reproduced in ANY form without the expressed, written permission of the author. Violations are punishable by applicable laws.

Please visit: www.fireemsblogs.com and my blog www.chiefreasonart.com.

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I have found myself thinking about the term “arrogant” a lot lately. It is what comes to mind as I read some of the stories coming out of our fire service these days. And trust me; what you will read here won’t be a speech that you will hear this year at FDIC.

Yes; I am of the opinion that our humility has been uprooted and replaced with an air of arrogance.

What right do I have to say this?

Well, I was an active firefighter for 22 years. I suffered through under-funding, a lack of leadership, no plan, no mission, little hope, but a desire to help my community. Back then, we would be standing there with a booster line, shooting water into the hole that was once a house and everyone was telling us what a great job we did.

We did everything that we could, we would say. Arrogance!

We appreciate everything that you do, was a typical sentiment that was voiced by one and all. Ah; humility!

You are swept up by this unconditional worship of the fire department when you are new to it (humility with a splash of cynicism), but, after you have been on for awhile, you come to expect to hear it and to feel it each and every time there is a reason to drop the tones (arrogance with a touch of entitlement).

Is it a natural part of the maturation process to lose one’s humility or have we been confusing “humble” with “grateful” for, oh, so many years?

Recently, there have been several, negative stories in the news about firefighters or ex-firefighters.  Are we humbled by the fact that we are still regarded very highly by the public, even though recent news has firefighters committing arson, murder, sexploitation, drug sales and embezzlement? Or are we grateful that it isn’t happening where we live? More importantly, are these national headlines chipping away at our “unconditional worshippers”?

I keep hearing complaints from many corners in the fire service about how the pro-firefighter sentiment has eroded since 9/11. Do we want to believe that it took a catastrophe of major proportion to elevate our stature? Or did we think too highly of ourselves to begin with? It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing what we read about us.

I am disturbed by the fact that we use 9/11 as a reference point on the gauge of public opinion as if it were some “side benefit” for firefighters who weren’t even there, who didn’t lose family or aren’t struggling with health issues that may or may not be recognized as linked to the WTC site and covered under insurance or PSOBs. We should not be arrogant enough to believe that we can understand the immense loss that a city and their firefighters felt and continue to feel and instead be humbled by the professionalism exhibited by them.

When I think of some of the incidents that we have undertaken over the years, I take a critical view of the end result and am not humbled by it. If we are approached by a citizen and told we did a good job, I am grateful for their kindness, but no longer feel humbled by it. Why? I believe that it comes from knowing that we could have or should have done things differently for a better outcome.

Part of the reason that I think the public was so quick to heap praise upon their fire departments some years ago was because it was somewhat guilt driven. They didn’t have the time or wouldn’t take the time to join their fire department; yet fully understood the importance of praise as positive reinforcement. This is how they raised their kids and it worked with them and let’s face it; a firefighter is a big kid who, as a young kid, wanted to be a firefighter.

So, it was necessary for leaders in the community to praise their public servants so that they wouldn’t have to do it and then they could sleep better at night. When I think about my early days on the department, I remember that many of the property owners were too involved emotionally in their fully involved house to be thankful that a fire truck or two was there to keep it cool as it collapsed into the basement. As you were getting ready to return to the station, the last image at the fire scene that you saw was a family huddled in the front lawn arm-in-arms and holding on to what was left from the fire-each other.

Somehow; humility isn’t the feeling that comes to mind. But, I must admit; there is a feeling of arrogance from the expectation that there should have been a “thank you” for our efforts.

I think back to how many times we told ourselves that just a “thank you; just a pat on the back” was good enough. But, that was back when we didn’t have a lot of emotion, time and effort invested in ourselves as a member of the fire department. As we increased our skill sets, did our expectations of how we should be perceived grow as well? Once we were neck deep and fully vested; was a simple thank you or pat on the back ever going to be enough again? Was that arrogance settling in?

Then, we must have thought that the community was going to be right there alongside of us every step of the way as we went to school after school, conference after conference and collecting certificate after certificate. We were arrogant enough to believe that taxpayers would buy anything for their fire department; the best training and the best equipment and for awhile they did.

But, the economy turned. We started seeing job losses, eroding tax base, less new development, no new jobs, no new revenue sources, schools eating up most of the taxes and TIF districts got the rest. Our equipment was getting older and so were the firefighters. Even in tough times, we felt that the community would support the purchase of new fire trucks. The older guys didn’t want to attend training and the new ones didn’t have the time, but we were arrogant enough to believe that we could survive on our laurels. We could stir public support with tales of the old days.

And if that didn’t gain us their support, then we were arrogant enough to believe that we could use the old “if we don’t get it, more people will die” Big Lie. It had worked very successfully for years. “Can’t miss; two thumbs up”, you say.

Still; the community didn’t want the debt of a new truck in these uncertain times. They were resigned to the reality that the old trucks might break down when we were in the heat of battle, but that was a chance that they were willing to take. It sounded like a much cheaper alternative than the $300,000 for a new truck.

Our last gasp of arrogance comes with the “we will have to shut down the department and let someone else handle the calls”. We are thinking, “No way will they want to wait for the next town over”, but your citizens are thinking, “What’s the difference? They are going to pour water into the burnt out basement anyway”.

Yes; communities will support their fire departments through the tough times, but it will not be at previously high levels. Our public is more educated and therefore, less inclined to be swayed by emotional arguments. They remember the demonstrations of low pressure/high water volume tactics and its reliance on limited manpower. Let’s not forget the great Quint debates either. A truck designed for understaffing? I’ll take ten.

When you are no longer able to fulfill your mission statement because of a lack of resources, then you must either contract to your current level of resources or risk catastrophic failure in some form. It would be arrogant to think otherwise.

And a community telling their fire department that they cannot support them at their current levels can be very humbling, indeed.

TCSS.

The article is protected by federal copyright law under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella. It is written and submitted by Art Goodrich a.k.a. ChiefReason. This article or any other article submitted under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella cannot be reproduced in ANY form without the expressed, written permission of the author. Violations are punishable by applicable laws.

Please visit: www.fireemsblogs.com and my blog www.chiefreasonart.com.

Many times, we find ourselves complaining about our lack of control over our jobs or with our futures at our jobs.

We are in middle level management and historically, that has been the “crème in the Oreo cookie” of corporate America. That is; we get squeezed from both sides-the employers’ and the employees’.

But, something that we DO have control over is our moral compass. THAT sets the direction down the road to righteous decisions for a bounty of personal, moral and ethical situations.

I receive many on-line versions of magazines. Honestly, I don’t know why companies even bother sending out paper versions anymore. Often times, they go straight to the re-cycle bin unopened.

One of my faves is Fire Chief and articles by author/editor Janet Wilmoth. Janet has had her fingers on the pulse of the fire service for many years and her editorial this month was no exception.

Her topic for this month was “Chiefs Behaving Badly”.

I immediately bristled at the notion and I know that I could provide irrefutable examples that would prove that chiefs had not cornered the market on bad behavior within our fire service.

Why, just in the last few days, Caleb Lacey was found guilty of arson and homicide for a fire that he set in Long Island.

However; Wilmoth did provide some examples of some pretty egregious behavior by chiefs.

First up is Gary Scott, former chief of Campbell County, Wyoming’s fire department.

Apparently, the chief liked to molest his fire cadets; so much so that he pleaded no contest to FOURTEEN counts of sex abuse.

And we wonder why junior/explorer programs are going away!

The kicker is that Scott is already serving a 24-year sentence on TEN felony convictions of taking children across state lines for sexual abuse. (Source: www.rapidcityjournal.com)  He is either very stupid or very sick (twisted) or both.

Stay tuned to this one. Some of the young boys who were molested have filed a $150 million lawsuit against the fire department. Somehow, I don’t think that Tort Immunity is going to be enough. They might want to start NOW looking for new revenue streams to pay their legal bills.

Next, we have Eric Adam Grueninger, former chief of Locust Creek Volunteer Fire Department in Louisa County, Virginia.

This sick mutt was sentenced to 323 years in prison with 235 years suspended (?) for TWENTY felony sex counts, including rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery of a minor, object sexual penetration, taking indecent liberties with a child and possession of child pornography. (Source: www2.timesdispatch.com)

Sorry, folks; no snappy retort for this one. This one leaves me shaking my head and leaves me wondering how a “pillar” in a community can be so depraved and yet; shows no noticeable, outward signs. I can say that deep scars will exist forever with the victims and for a very long time in their respective communities.

Then, there is the curious case of Chief David Peterson of the Plainfield Township, Michigan Fire Department.

According to the article that I read, Chief Peterson and Township Supervisor Robert Homan knew that volunteer firefighter and township assistant clerk Jeffrey Hawkins was a convicted sex offender and they allowed him to continue working for the fire department. Hawkins was first convicted in the mid-90s for a crime involving a boy younger than 13 years of age.

Hawkins was again arrested in September of 2009 for soliciting sex from two, young boys on Facebook. (Source: www.woodtv.com)

Public opinion has been brutal since Hawkins’ arrest. The township fire department has been accused of putting other children at risk, for keeping a convicted pedophile on the fire department and for keeping it “secret”.

So, when we have our discussions about how a chief is promoted (elected or appointed), the cost of doing background checks (or not doing them) and as to how desperate volunteer fire departments are to recruit and retain members; please think about what you have just read, but with this one caveat: $150 million in potential liability to your department and taxpayers.

Anything else pales by comparison!

TCSS.

The article is protected by federal copyright law under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella. It is written and submitted by Art Goodrich a.k.a. ChiefReason. This article or any other article submitted under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella cannot be reproduced in ANY form without the expressed, written permission of the author. Violations are punishable by applicable laws.

Please visit: www.fireemsblogs.com and my blog www.chiefreasonart.com.

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This is what came to mind when I read the story of the Long Pine, Nebraska Fire Department (http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/nebraska-town-dismantles). Apparently, the mayor and city council decided to “dismantle” the fire department over some internal disputes between the mayor and the fire department. See a news piece here: http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/article_61573e48-1809-11df-9219-001cc4c03286.html.

I call it “arrogant”, because the action was taken by a small group elected to represent their residents.

Are we going to believe that the citizens WANT to be without a local fire department?

If they care about someone showing up at the time of their emergency, then they should NOT be happy at this turn of events in their community.

Citizens of Long Pine; throw out the elected officials who are behind this cavalier attitude towards your community’s safety. They are using YOU to prove a point and a very dangerous one at that.

In fact; have your police chief arrest them for aggravated stupidity!

I also call it “ignorant”, because once again, one city government wants their public safety problems solved at their neighboring community’s expense. Yeah; use their resources paid by their tax money for your emergencies. Call it “redistribution of wealth”.

It is also an ignorant notion because fire will grow for each minute that it takes Ainsworth to get there.

People should go to jail for putting the safety of their communities at risk.

When elected officials fail their oath of office by acts of their own neglect, then they should be arrested, charged, tried and convicted for it.

Go ahead and say it. Say, “But you won’t get anyone to run for public office if they can be arrested for making bad decisions”.

And I will say, “No; a bad decision would be to increase the sales tax because sales are down”.

Shutting down your fire department because a couple of city council members-including one that is ON the volunteer fire department and voted to dismantle it-has an axe to grind isn’t a bad decision; it’s a wrong decision and a very dangerous decision.

When government and its power are abused by the few who are elected, it no longer functions FOR the people.

And if you could go to jail for being arrogant and ignorant in matters of public safety, then new prisons would be popping up all over the nation.

This case in Long Pine is not an example of partisan politics, ladies and gentlemen. It’s elected officials abusing their privilege to serve their citizens. It’s elected officials serving their own self-interests at the expense of their citizens.

So, when they bring the process down to the personal level, replete with acts of revenge, then it is time for them to go.

You cannot justify a public body making private decisions on public safety without public comment and participation. It’s wrong AND illegal.

Is there more to the story?

There had better be.

TCSS.

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