Volunteer fill-in crew refuses to ride ambulance. PGFD confirms it is dealing with this issue involving top volunteer official “appropriately”.
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Read information from July 8, 2009 career major’s log
A Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department spokesman tells STATter911.com that what happened at its Station 821 in Oxon Hill on Wednesday should not have occurred and is being “dealt with appropriately” at the “highest levels” of the department. Major Derrick Lea is responding to our questions about the actions of a volunteer fill-in crew who came from other stations around the county to handle emergency calls while career firefighters were detailed elsewhere.
A department document obtained by STATter911.com indicates the crew placed Ambulance 821 out of service saying they only came to Oxon Hill to respond aboard the fire equipment. Sources confirm the information came from the daily log of the department’s career major in charge of operations during Wednesday’s shift.
According to the document, Volunteer Major James McClelland had to twice contact the station to order the ambulance placed back in service. On the first call Major McClelland talked with former Oxon Hill chief, and long-time volunteer, Eddie Hancock.
The second call was to Vince Harrison, the vice-chairman of the Prince George’s County Fire Commission. Harrison was part of the volunteer fill-in crew at Station 821. Harrison is also the former chief of the Riverdale VFD (Station 807).
Lea confirms that Major McClelland had to order the ambulance placed back in service, but could not say how long the unit was unavailable for emergency calls. He confirms that placing the ambulance out of service was not appropriate.
Major Lea also says that because of budget cutbacks that require greater use of volunteer fill-in crews “there are challenges, operational and otherwise that are being aggressively addressed right now”.
Prince George’s County Fire Commission Vice-Chairman Vince Harrison.
Here is an excerpt from the document that describes the exchange between Volunteer Major McClelland and Prince George’s County Fire Commission Vice-Chairman Vince Harrison:
Major McClelland called back to advise that he spoke with Vince Harrison, who stated that Hancock had left and that he was not going to ride the ambulance. When asked why he was there then, Vince told him that he was there to make sure if there was a fire across the street that someone responded so that there were no issue before Fire Chief Jones got confirmed. Major McClelland asked him if that was more important than the heart attack across the street, and order Harrison to place Ambulance 821 back in service.
The log goes on to say that after the ambulance went back in service, the volunteer crew got aboard Tower 821 and went to the other Oxon Hill firehouse in Glassmanor (Station 842), leaving the ambulance behind without staffing.
In an effort to drastically cut overtime spending, the department began a rotating schedule on July 1 that pulls career staffing out of as many as seven stations at a time. While some of the stations are able to muster volunteer crews, other firehouses have been left empty.
STATter911.com began making contact with volunteer leadership in the county on Thursday, provided them with the documents and is awaiting comment about the incident. We have also passed messages on to Vince Harrison and Eddie Hancock asking for comment.
