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| I have received several complaints about mistreatment of volunteer firefighters in ECFR. I am going to ask the administrator to look into these--and I hope they are not founded and/or are isolated incidents that can be rectified |
I've been
contacted by multiple volunteer firefighters who are telling me the same
thing: They are not being welcomed, nor
are they being treated fairly. They are
stymied throughout the application process, and new volunteer outreach has
slowed to a crawl. One volunteer with
whom I spoke summed it up grimly.
“The county wants to know why
volunteerism is down in Escambia county it’s not because people don’t want to
be volunteers, it’s because they don’t want to be treated like they’re 3rd
class citizens….volunteers need the help of the commissioners because we are
getting rail-roaded by the career union we need help recruiting if its adds in
the news paper or commercials on the radio or tv anything will help.”
Some of what
I am hearing about the mistreatment is disturbing, to say the least.
In some instances,
the treatment goes beyond just being treated "unfairly" and stymied—in
some of these accounts, which I intend to discuss with our new administrator
today, it sounds like it could be considered harassment, bullying, or hazing.
Regardless
of what one chooses to call it—I find it unacceptable from a professional
organization that is supposed to function as a cohesive unit, together, paid
and volunteer, one force, one fight.
But it does
not sound as if that is happening. The
leadership vacuum persists apparently-which is disappointing coming off of all
the scrutiny the board has demanded based upon a recent harassment claim
settlement in ECFR. We MUST get the
culture sorted out so that everyone is treated fairly,
respectfully, and valued for their service—paid staff and volunteer alike!
According to
one volunteer:
“On multiple mornings after the
volunteers were up all night running calls, the oncoming career crew comes in
the bunk rooms with flash lights and screaming reveille reveille reveille like
we are in boot camp, making it so that volunteers don’t want to spend the night
anymore they make it as hard as possible to be a volunteer firefighter”
With respect
to equipment—this certainly got my attention:
“I feel as a volunteer firefighter I
am treated as a 3rd class citizen my turn out gear is expired by over 8 year
but it’s ok because I’m a volunteer the career personnel on the other hand have
to have 2 sets of in- date gear though.”
Another
volunteer, from a different station, related this to me:
“about the infighting, it’s worse than what
you are seeing. They set a trap in a locker (unlocked) for water to spill at
station XXXXX to see if anyone was digging thru their stuff. They’ve been
locking the engines up on purpose, they’ve taken the straps off the cones on
the volunteer engine so that when we return for a call and take a call, they
would fall off on purpose.”
“a battalion chief got really mad on
scene with volunteers in recent weeks and belittled them on
