By MARGIE DOYLE

Editor

The decision by Orcas Island Fire Commissioners to employ Buddy Wright as Battalion Chief/ Operations and Training, at a salary of $90,000 per year, has raised questions about the fire department’s direction as a combination of paid staff and volunteers, the department’s leadership, and volunteer morale.

As reported in last week’s Sounder, a petition is being circulated among the public to protest Wright’s salary. Another petition is being circulated, this one among the volunteers, which speaks of dissent within the department.

Harris defended the decision to hire Wright as “fulfilling the strategic plan,” or at least what he calls one of the three legs of the plan: to improve communication with the community and within the department. However, that goal is felt by many former and current Fire Department volunteers, several of whom requested anonymity of speaking to the paper for fear of repercussions, to be a neglected part of the plan.

(The goals of the Strategic Plan, formulated in 2005, are updating Fire Department Equipment and stations, installing fulltime paramedics, cross-training volunteers in both Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and firefighting, and improving public communication and communication within the department.)

Minutes from the meetings of the Fire Commission since last September show that EMT Hilary Canty, of Olga, spoke to the Commission on Oct. 9, after having conversations with Harris and Wright, and of a letter she had written to the Commission, expressing her concerns for the number and morale of the department’s volunteers.

In her letter, Canty wrote, “The Commission focused too heavily on capital expansion and equipment replacement while allowing the most valuable resource, the volunteers, to founder.” She added that the resulting shortage of volunteers creates stress and morale problems.

Canty was told at the meeting that the matter would be aired after the budget was resolved. Earlier this month, Commissioner Jim Coffin said that before responding to Canty’s concerns, he “first wants to see an objective look of what we’re doing. My plan is, once we have a standardized measure then we’ll be better equipped to look at some subjective issues. I would anticipate having a look at that by the end of February, first of March.”

Coffin added, “Our volunteers are the life blood of the department. The number one issue is service to the community and with it is the safety of the volunteers. It’s difficult to objectively measure morale.

“I believe there is a morale issue, I don’t want to diminish the importance of that. The concerns are important but not pervasive. The obvious thing that keeps coming back is cross-training, and those who are most concerned about cross-training are the ones that don’t have to do it.”

Harris estimates that when he came to the Department in 2004, there were 75 volunteers, with about 25 serving as EMTs, 25 firefighters, and 25 who were both. There were seven paid staff serving at the Eastsound Fire Station. Now there are 51 volunteers and four new recruits in the ongoing EMT class. Nine firefighters are also enrolled in the current EMT class, in order to be cross-trained.

Paul Spencer, a career firefighter who had been with the Orcas Fire Department for 14 years, recently resigned as a volunteer. He had been on the paid staff as the fire engine mechanic, but was terminated in 2006 when that position changed to outsourced (off-

island) maintenance. He remained as a volunteer for a year and a half. He now works for the Friday Harbor and Lopez Fire Departments.

Spencer says that Harris “made changes that radically affect the Fire Department,” and further, “I have backed out of the Orcas Fire Department as it changes direction.” While he sees the number of volunteers decreasing, Spencer says the question should be, “Does the core group of incident responders have the skills and experience base to respond adequately?”

“Experience is a huge part of effectiveness,” says Spencer.

Amy Cole, EMT volunteer who says she retired in 2007 for “a combination of health reasons and disenchantment with the treatment of volunteers,” said that the department “can make better use of their money” than by spending it on cross training. “There are people in Doe Bay who are interested in being a first responder, but don’t want to be trained as a firefighters. There’s a shortage of EMTs on the Eastside [of Orcas Island].”

Volunteer firefighter Ian Wareham has served from the West Sound area since 1982. He was on the department’s Apparatus Committee, which considers new tenders, the trucks that haul water to fire sites.

After reviewing the frequency of past equipment use, reviewing equipment usage in other communities, and estimating the amount of water needed to put out future fires, the Apparatus Committee recommended the Fire Department purchase 2,200-gallon weight rigs,” says Wareham. “The Chief ordered the heavier 2,600 gallon [trucks.] I resigned as Lieutenant after that.”

Wareham says “We’re spending too much money on fire equipment and personnel. We’re not being practical about the way we’re purchasing equipment. Justifying the budget is a big deal with me.

“Mike Harris has done some cool things, I disagree with some of them, but he’s the chief. If I really disagree, it should be with the commissioners, they can say no to him.”

Relief Paramedic and Department volunteer Dave Zoeller, who has been with the Orcas Fire Department for 25 years, feels that Harris and the Commissioners have done what they said they intended to do. Zoeller asks of the changes Harris and the Commissioners have made, “Is this the best system? I don’t know that we know yet.” But he says, “That’s what Harris presented and what we’re going with. This is the system put in place.” “I don’t know that we’ve been on the course long enough that we know if it’s better or worse. “

Zoeller says of the decline in volunteers, “Part of the vision was that they were going to see fewer people. Are we getting what we want? “There are people who don’t like it, but I’m not in that camp; the jury’s out. I’m supportive of what Chief has done, I don’t think it’s come to fruition. There are upsides and downsides.”

The problem of getting enough volunteers in outlying island areas such as Deer Harbor and Olga has existed before Harris, and before

cross-training, Zoeller observes. But the department is “clearly asking more of people.”

Commissioner Clyde Duke, who served as a volunteer firefighter in the Department, agrees that the cross-training is too new to judge: “When the smoke all clears and the dust settles, we’ll see clearly.” Yet he ascribes the attrition rate, at least in part to the cross-training requirement. “Many people are struggling with it. The Fire Department is a unique environment – people are very passionate, engaging themselves; they have a lot of history, and history making decisions. A lot of volunteers are those type of people.”

As a past responder-volunteer, Duke says that volunteers’ feeling of being overwhelmed “is a concern of the commission and those who are affected.”

Canty says, “It appears to me that we are focused on transforming into a fully paid program, evident in the amount of time we expect new recruits to commit – eight nights of training and two duty drills this quarter in addition to two duty shifts per month. Who do you know who has that kind of time? The younger folks who might be willing to take this on are all generally working and have kids.”

Duke agreed that people have less time to volunteer and maintain a certain level of expertise and cited a national report on fire departments that show three kinds of departments: those that are totally volunteer, a combination department (which Orcas Island has been for seven to 10 years,) and a totally paid department. There’s “quite a shrinkage” of volunteers, Duke notes, and adds that it’s not just in the Orcas Fire Department. He sees the challenges facing the fire department as “not much different from past challenges. Personality is still a big one.”

As a member of the Long Range Planning Committee, which continues to meet, Duke states there is “strong recognition of volunteers in the community.”

Wanda Evans, of Olga, who resigned as a Volunteer EMT in early 2005, says, “Although 13 years of being the first on the scene takes its toll, I would have continued to be an EMT if I hadn’t seen the writing on the wall with the requirements changing.” As a “grandfathered” volunteer, Evans wasn’t required to cross-train, but she says, “When half the department has one requirement and the other half has another requirement, you have two classes of volunteers. It makes it extremely difficult for a coordinated effort because the newcomers tend to segregate themselves from the old-timers and it doesn’t work very well.

With 80 percent of the calls medically-related, Canty and others ask, “Why are we turning away volunteers who do not want to be firefighters?”

Commissioner Harvey Olsan said that the commissioners are trying to keep it a volunteer department and defends cross-training as the first step towards that goal. “There are volunteers who don’t want to be cross-trained. We’re still attracting new people who don’t look at it the way [the “grandfathered” volunteers] do. They who do will leave or retire – we don’t need 75 volunteers.”

Olsan stated that there are enough volunteers “as long as the call times are good – and this is where the [volunteer requirement to

spend one night a month] sleepover in the Eastsound Fire station helps.”

Regarding the required sleepover, Evans said, “My whole reason for being an EMT was to respond to the people on the east side of the island. I could respond directly to the call from home, and be on the scene within five minutes. An EMT who’s on the scene can stop bleeding or do CPR, that needs to be done now. It can take 25 to 35 minutes for an [ambulance] to get there.”

“There’s always going to be a morale issue with some people,” Olsan said, “There’s always a certain few that aren’t happy, that’s the nature of organizations.”

Toby Brown, President of the Emergency Medical Technician(EMT)/Firefighters Association offered his comments “as a citizen who happens to be a volunteer.” Brown is a Firefighter and First Responder (the first level of EMT training) at Orcas Island’s Doe Bay station #27.

“The decline in volunteers is due in greatest part to island economics: It’s more expensive to live on the island than before.” He feels that, in his area (Doe Bay), the decline in EMTs is a result of former EMTs retiring or moving off-island before the Department’s Strategic Plan of 2005 put into effect the cross-training requirement.

But Brown says that on “the Eastside – the Doe Bay, Olga and Rosario areas – there has never been a call unanswered.”

As for the changes he’s seen in the four years he’s been with the Orcas Fire Department (and since Chief Harris took over), Brown says, “Our training has gotten a lot better and people are better equipped than before,” and credits the online information that comes to the Department through King County and “Our medical control officer (Dr. Michael Sullivan) in Bellingham is making sure we have the right information” so that First Responders and EMTs are better prepared with crucial information when they contact him.”

But Brown says there is a lot of tension in the department and one of the big factors is cross-training. “It makes sense for people to be cross-trained. I’m a firefighter and my most important role is to make sure that department volunteers don’t get hurt; one of the most important things we do is drive, saving lives by the appropriate response.”

“Come fast, or come slow – I see knowing that as a huge

requirement,” Brown said, giving examples of a responding to a minor burn or to CPR as requiring different response rates. Historically, he says there’s been a division between the firefighters and the EMTS, but he says there’s always challenges in teamwork. “I personally think we’re losing good people, but not necessarily because of cross-training.”

“John Erly’s letter [in the Jan. 30 Sounder] defined it, Brown said, “Harris changed the Orcas Fire Department, and it’s been a hard transition but a good transition. But, the next chief should be someone who has a lot of experience.”

Harris credits Buddy Wright with helping him “heal the divide” between EMT’s and firefighters – “Many of them didn’t even know each other. Now, thanks to Wright, they have the same officers,” Harris said. But Brown says, “Wright has a command style, not a leadership style. He demands respect as opposed to earning it. He’s also very knowledgeable.”

In the past there were more people in recruit classes, but now more are staying, due to Wright’s more stringent qualifications, Brown says. “Now the volunteers are of the highest caliber. As a taxpayer, I would want a higher quality. But the fewer volunteers there are, the more calls I’m going to go on, and there are calls that require a lot of people. “People are moving on, there’s a shortage of young people. How do you get people that want to volunteer?”

For himself, Brown says, “I volunteer for the people of Doe Bay and Olga. I will do everything I’m capable of doing.”

Commissioner Duke, who served the Department as a Lieutenant and a Past President of the FireFighters Association, said of Department morale issues, “There are so many variables to try to balance. I have talked to every person in the department who’s left to see what the issues are. There is so much personal angst with individuals, it makes it really tough,” Duke said. “This is a big challenge, looking at balance right now. That’s the board’s responsibility.”

Former Fire Department Volunteer Marty Graves turned in his gear, resigning as a volunteer firefighter and as an EMT last year, after serving Orcas Island for almost seven years. He says, “I believe the department is changing to a department that is not a volunteer station but is a station of volunteers.” Graves, who had been with the department since 2001, cross-trained as firefighter, became a captain, ran drills and created programs. Ultimately, Graves said, “It was too much for me to volunteer. I can’t put any more time or effort in there, and if I did, I’d be a career firefighter.”

Graves says, “I agree with the decision to encourage cross-training, but I don’t think it should be mandatory unless you’re a paid employee. But if they do, it doesn’t mean I’m not backing my department. I do, and they’re a great group of people.

Graves added that, “The people who stay are going to be stronger people. If you were really concerned you’d stay in it. If you don’t like it, you’d get out. If the numbers dwindle because they go down too far, that’s where the public has to step in if they’re concerned. It’s up to the public. The volunteers can speak up all they want, but when it comes to how much are we going to pay the paid staff, that’s up to the commissioners, and they were voted on by the people, and if the people don’t like it they have to keep speaking.”

Being heard within an organization is “a concern for any organization,” says Graves. “You have to look at it as a whole, and ask, ‘Is [speaking up] going to serve the people we serve better?’ If you’re not being heard, you can choose not to be involved and that’s why I’m not involved. “Being part of a volunteer department means you don’t have to volunteer if you don’t like it if you’re being treated unfairly.” Graves says he left because the Fire Department is “going in a direction that I feel is not volunteer directed.”

Hilary Canty echoes Graves, when she says,”Volunteering as an EMT is not a small commitment, and it is an honor. To walk away from that is hard, it is not something anyone takes lightly.”

Harris responds that he was recruited because of his credentials in maintaining and improving volunteer departments. “I was hired to bring the department to a higher level with the volunteers and I can’t tell you how proud I am of our people.” He notes that state regulations make no distinction between the standards to which both volunteers and career fire department employees are held. But he hastens to add that this in no way means he is heading towards an all-paid department. “Don’t misinterpret our efforts to establish a professional department. It is in my best interest and the department’s for the volunteers to be developed and improved. When the public calls for help, they should care only if the people arriving are trained what to do.”

Harris says that when he came on board the Orcas Fire Department, the Commissioners and Volunteer Association had agreed that the Association should have “a legislative voice in the business of the Fire Department,” and that agreement is formalized in monthly meetings between the Chief and the President of the Volunteer Association. “Toby Brown wants to improve that relationship, and I think it will develop,” said Harris.

Harris confirmed that the Fire Department responds to all calls from the Eastsound Fire Station. “They hope that neighborhood people will get there first,” says Harris. “Outlying areas always need their own neighborhood people,” he says. As he sees it, training firefighters as First Responders, if not EMTs, helps fill the need for volunteer responders for all parts of the island.

As to whether the Fire Department is moving towards an all-paid department, Duke says, “With a combination department of volunteers and staff, is the staff supported by volunteers, or are the volunteers supported by the staff? In my opinion, Orcas Fire Department is absolutely a volunteer environment – that balance is the challenge we face.”