Council reviews merge of fire, rescue squads

jhanley@manassasjm.com

Wednesday's city council work session on the future of both the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company and the Greater Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad provided both answers and questions.

However, in a meeting when council members and emergency services leaders aired many of their concerns, the one theme that came up continually was the positive relationship between the career employees and volunteers and between the separate fire and rescue departments.

And both entities hoped that would stay the same during what will likely be the combining of the departments in the near future.

"The [positive] culture is already there and as people come in, we will meld them into that culture," said Mark Nary, a former member of the Rescue Squad and now career engine lieutenant for the Fire Com-pany.

The impetus of the meeting was to educate council further on the dire need of increasing staffing levels at the de-partment because of a shortage of volunteers at both stations. On Feb. 25, the council approved the immediate hiring of five new firefighters, an administrative aide and an interim chief that would preside over both the fire and rescue departments until a permanent chief was hired.

However, there was confusion as to just what was approved that evening and what the departments would look like after these hires.

Before Wednesday's meeting, Fire Chief Roger Ward said he was surprised with the recent decision by coun-cil to approve a combined fire and rescue chief. Greater Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad President Mike Enright said after the decision to hire the chief, he began hearing rumors that an interim chief was close to being ap-pointed.

According to police chief John J. Skinner, who serves as the administrator for both departments, the only thing that has been set is an April 15 timetable for hiring the five additional firefighters.

Before an interim chief is hired, the chief's job description that was just completed as well as the changes to the city code creating the new combined department has to be reviewed by the volunteer leadership.

Skinner expects that it will then take around six months to search for a permanent chief, which will only take place after all of these other measures are taken. Once a chief is hired, he'll essentially assume the role that Skinner is filling.

During the meeting, organizational charts were displayed to reflect what the two departments would be like after the immediate hirings and what it would look like if the council were to approve the eight new fire/EMT personnel in the fiscal 2009 budget.

The consensus in the room was that more personnel were needed, both now and in the future. Currently there are 17 career rescue squad personnel and eight career firefighters.

However, both Enright and Ward made a point to say that the volunteers and their leadership needed to be actively involved in this transition to a combined department.

To assuage those fears, the organizational chart listed the current volunteer chiefs connected under the proposed fire & rescue chief by a dotted line, signifying the

uncertainty of the new

position's responsibilities.

If the city hires a "my way or the highway" chief, Enright said that "in 60 to 90 days you can destroy 100 years of what was built in the city as far as the volunteers go."

"If they [the volunteers] feel like they don't have a voice ... they won't stick around," added Ward.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738 or jhanley@manassasjm.com.