Salisbury firefighter tensions universal

Volunteer firefighters from the Salisbury Fire Department threatened to separate from the city last week to form their own company.

The threat highlighted a long history of tension between volunteers and career firefighters in the city, but similar struggles are common to any fire department that incorporates career and volunteer firefighters.

And many long-tenured firefighters say that is nothing new.

"There are all sorts of battles between career and volunteer firefighters," said Curt Varone, an advocate who has been both a career and volunteer firefighter in his long career in New England.

"It certainly isn't a local problem, and I'm not even sure that it's just a national problem. It's probably international, wherever there are career and volunteer firefighters."

Career and volunteer firefighters on Delmarva have been tight-lipped about their relationship. Many phone calls by The Daily Times to local firefighters were not returned, and those who did call back declined to comment due to the sensitivity to both sides of the issue.

Since receiving a public letter from Company 1 announcing its intent to separate from the Salisbury Fire Department, political tension has increased between the two groups.

“This is a political ploy,” Mayor Jake Day said in a previous interview. “It’s not about public safety or the fire service.”

City authorities subsequently locked the volunteers out of Station 1. But now, Company 1 volunteers will meet with the Wicomico County Council on March 2 to discuss the issues that led to these events.

“As council members, we haven’t been privy to what’s going on,” said Council President John Cannon. “We need to know before making a decision on spending money.”

READ MORE: Firefighters to meet with Wicomico County Council

Although the problem is widespread, solutions are possible, Varone said. Mark Brady, public information officer for the Prince George's County Fire and EMS Department, said his department has a system that works.

The Prince George's department is one of the largest and busiest combination volunteer and career firefighter services in the U.S., Brady said. About 860 firefighter/medics in IAFF local 1619 and nearly 1,500 volunteers are distributed throughout the county across 45 local fire/EMS departments.

On average, the department as a whole tackles more than 150,000 incidents per year, Brady said.

"It's taken years to put together," Brady said. "I call it growing pains, we've all experienced it, to get to where we are today. I think we all learn from our past history and I think what we've got works for (us)."

An issue as old as career firefighting

Varone is no stranger to the problems that occur in fire departments that include both volunteer and career companies. He maintains the "Fire Law" blog and podcast. He is a 40-year veteran of fire services and has been a practicing attorney in Rhode Island and Maine for three decades. He started his fire service as a volunteer, then became a career firefighter in Providence, Rhode Island, where he retired as deputy assistant chief.

He now volunteers in his hometown of Exeter. He has written two books, "Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services" (2006) and "Fire Officer's Legal Handbook" (2007), and is a contributing editor for "Firehouse" magazine.

Rivalries and struggles between the two types of crews have existed at least since the mid-1800s, when municipalities first began recruiting career firefighters, Varone said. Before that time, all firefighters were volunteers.

Voluntary service has its compensations, like the freedom to remain home with family when not needed or to work at other paying jobs. Career firefighters receive paid training and are essentially working full time as firefighters. This means that a level of training and expertise is expected of career firefighters that it is "not realistic" to expect of volunteers, Varone said.

He said there is also an economic issue.

"You have people doing something and getting paid for it, and other people who are not getting paid for it," he said. "One group sees the other as a threat to their continued ability to do what they want to do, and that goes both ways."

READ MORE: Salisbury fire service study shows $1.1M funding gap

In some cases, Varone said, volunteers sometimes see their requests for newer or better equipment ignored in favor of pay increases for career units. Conversely, career units see the presence of cheaper volunteer units as potentially putting them out of a job in difficult economic times.

"In many departments where you have both, I think it turns into almost like kids trying to turn mommy against daddy," Varone said. "It can turn into a very dysfunctional situation very quickly."

Time, effort, patience

Every part of the country is different, Varone said, and there are many variables. Some jurisdictions have found a way to manage the divide between the two types of units, but it takes a lot of management oversight and a viable process to manage disputes.

An example of a jurisdiction that has done this is the Prince George's County Fire and EMS Department, and it wasn't an easy process, or a quick one.

"There are differences that come up from time to time," said Brady, department spokesman. "But they're handled in a manner in which it doesn't become big drama."

The key to managing differences between volunteers and career firefighters is the incorporation of volunteers at every level of the chain of command, Brady said. That chain was forged in the 1970s, when a change in the county charter put all fire and emergency services under the command of a single county fire chief, appointed by the county executives.

"One thing we learned over time is what the volunteers really want and deserve is a seat at the decision-making table," Brady said. "It's made the transition moving forward that much easier because they do have that seat."

He said that roles at the level of assistant fire chief and deputy fire chief are about evenly distributed among career and volunteer officers.

A volunteer chief is in charge of an entire battalion evenings, weekends and holidays. Duty chiefs with responsibility for the entire county on their shifts can be either career officers or volunteers.

READ MORE: Firefighter walkout due to staffing dispute with city

Volunteer deputy chiefs are incorporated into each of the command subdivisions. The deputy chief in charge of the volunteer services command is hired from among the volunteer leadership and paid for the role, and administers all volunteers in the county structure. This deputy chief also answers directly to the county fire chief.

The Fire Commission, which oversees the county department's $170 million budget, is comprised of volunteers, career firefighters and civilians. The commission must achieve a consensus on all spending matters.

The Prince George's County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association advocates for each of the county's volunteer companies, each of which is an autonomous legal corporation with its own elected board of directors. The county has no say in how these companies raise or spend their own funds.

"Has it always (worked) as well as it does now? No," Brady said. "Certainly back in the '70s when we first went under this system, when only career firefighters were integrated throughout the departments, things weren't as smooth. Things certainly have improved over the last dozen years or so."

Not all jurisdictions are willing to put time and effort into making that work, Varone said, and in extreme cases a municipality may disband all volunteer units to end the squabbling.

Brady agreed that it takes a lot of effort and commitment to achieve workable results. He is confident that Salisbury can learn a similar lesson.

"I think Salisbury can get there. It will take leadership, the city and the chief coming together with the volunteer leadership and just working things out and understanding each others' roles," Brady said. "It's unfortunate when (it gets to this level) and the mayor gets involved, it's never pretty.

"Hopefully there will be some resolution to that, and I'm sure there will be."

IF YOU GO

What: Wicomico County Council special meeting to discuss fire services

When: Noon Thursday, March 2

Where: Room 301, Government Office Building, Salisbury