‘I’m done.’ Entire Texas fire department quits in clash over medical emergencies
After battling the city over which calls to respond to and which to ignore, every member of Pinehurst, Texas’s volunteer fire department, including the chief, resigned this week, local news reports say.
Eight volunteers and Fire Chief Shon Branham announced their decision to resign Monday, citing ongoing conflicts with the Pinehurst city administrator, KBMT reported.
“This came about when the city administrator deemed that all medical calls were unnecessary for us to respond to,” Branham told the Orange Leader earlier this month.
Jerry Hood, the city’s interim city administrator, proposed a plan in June to pull the volunteer firefighters from most medical calls, including assaults, breathing issues, choking, seizures, strokes and others, to save the city money, FireRescue1 reported. The spike in COVID-19 cases in Orange County prompted the chief of police and the emergency management coordinator to suggest limiting fire department responses to life or death emergencies, Hood said in a statement on the Pinehurst Police Department’s Facebook page.
“Chief Branham chose not to honor that request citing that he had no choice but to respond to these calls due to an agreement with Acadian Ambulance Service,” Hood said.
The fire department started a contract with a new dispatch service in June that would cost $14,100 per year, according to KBMT. The contract from the year prior cost $13,000, KBMT reported. Hood “planned to help the city save money by pulling the volunteer firefighters from most medical calls,” Fire Rescue1 said.
Under Hood’s plan, the department would only be allowed to respond to a CPR in progress call, the Leader reported.
“I’m sorry, we’re done,” Branham told KFDM. “If we can’t get any cooperation, we’re not appreciated, we’re not needed. We’re not needed, call somebody else.”
Hood accused Branham of putting out false information by misrepresenting the agreement between the department and Acadian Ambulance officials, according to the police department’s post. Acadian told Hood that the fire chief determines which calls they respond to, not the ambulance service, and that Branham told Acadian to dispatch the fire department “regardless of the nature” of a call, the post says.
“I am both disappointed and disheartened in the blatantly false information former Pinehurst Volunteer Fire Department Chief Shon Branham has been relaying to the media, and more importantly, the citizens of Pinehurst,” Hood wrote in his statement. “Additionally, I would like to [assure] the Citizens of Pinehurst that at no time was there a stoppage or denial for fire or medical services. The City of Orange Fire Department is currently providing fire services to the City of Pinehurst.”
Acadian Ambulance Service is still responding to the city’s medical service calls, Hood said.
A Facebook account using Shon Branham’s name posted a response to Hood’s statement.
“It’s a shame that an individual along with some associate’s can state that I put out false information,” the post said. “Number one I am one of the most honest people you would ever meet and to accuse me of lying is one of the worst things you could do because I can prove everything I said and then some. My reply to you is bite me.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 4:35 PM.