Self-dispatching rule at center of matter
The new social media policy in volunteer fire department contracts was at the crux of the issue at the Hopkins County Commissioners Court Friday work session, and another new policy, one prohibiting self-dispatching, came under discussion.
“If you research it…, there are no articles saying it’s good to self-dispatch,” Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom said. “All articles say it’s dangerous to self-dispatch because you end up with a lot of units at the scene and may cause more wrecks or more problems.”
Self-dispatching is, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council, “responding to a scene without prior authorization” and can apply to “both individuals and departments.” A department or individual can request to be dispatched to an incident, but authorization does not have to be given.
In January, three stations were dispatched to respond to a minor accident in Como. One station, Brinker VFD, was not dispatched but responded anyway, and under the new contract signed by VFDs last year, the station was penalized with a withholding of county funds.
On the grounds of self-dispatching, the NVFC “opposes…self-dispatching, as it can lead to miscommunication, causing safety and health issues for firefighters, first responders and citizens.”
The International Association of Fire Chiefs also discourages the practice, citing accountability issues and the creation of chaos at the scene. They further state emergency units self-dispatching “disrupt the accountability and incident management system.”
After the court penalized Brinker VFD, social media posts by Arbala VFD chief Brian Fairchild on his personal account exacerbated the issue and, in the county’s view, violated another policy regarding social media in the contract.
“Maybe it’s time to just shut the doors on the VFDs in Hopkins County and walk away,” Fairchild’s post, recited by Newsom, read. “We need to find people to run against this bunch next election time. Asking dispatch to tone out a department that is closer when they make a mistake is not self-dispatching.”
The policy “encourages” volunteers to avoid using social media to “harass supervisors, other firefighters, Hopkins County officials and employees or citizens.” Furthermore, it advises volunteers to not use social media to create a “hostile environment” or harm “the goodwill or reputation of Hopkins County.”
John Burkhead, Fairchild’s pro bono attorney, argued the policy is “highly permissive” and suggested the court and fire marshal Andy Endsley did not have a positive relationship with Fairchild.
“What I think can happen is a frank conversation between myself and Mr. Fairchild so they understand that this is creating problems,” Burkhead said. “That’s what I see as the best solution.”
Hopkins County Sheriff Lewis Tatum, who is over the dispatch office, showed frustration with the matter, saying the county has “wasted hundreds of man hours” in attempts to resolve the matter.
“We’ve got crime to fight and roads to fix,” Tatum said. “We’ve got a lot of things we need to be doing other than meeting about this.”
After Burkhead left the work session, Newsom floated the idea of adding a penalty if a department or individual is found to be in violation of the social media policy.
“Next year, when we make a new contract, we may want to put a penalty into it which could result in the withholding of funds like we did on the other issue,” Newsom said.