By Phil Dodson
The Macon Telegraph
MACON, Ga. — Macon and Bibb County has a Class 1 fire department whose 19 stations with more than 370 firefighters is responsible for the city and county having the lowest fire insurance rating available. In the eight years that Jimmy Hartley, who retired as fire chief last week, has been at its helm, no firefighters, he pointed out, have died in the line of duty, been critically injured fighting fires and very few have been seriously injured. But nagging questions have arisen about the department’s proficiency in basic firefighting skills. This comes after the Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council, which has the authority to revoke certification of fire departments or individual firefighters, found serious discrepancies in firefighter proficiency when only slightly more than half of the fire force passed tests on basic skills, many after a second try, in such things as correctly donning firefighting gear, hoisting fire axes or setting up extension ladders.
We would like to believe that interim fire chief Marvin Riggins is correct when he told The Telegraph: “We know what we’re doing and we know how to do it. It’s not a competency issue. The issue is in the details.” But the fire council has given the department six months to train for retesting, and failures the next time around could cost the fire department or those members a loss of certification if they don’t do far better upon retesting.
Chief Hartley, who acknowledges his responsibility in dealing with this problem, has pledged to work with the department in an unpaid advisory role until the next round of testing is complete. That’s as it should be -- as chief, he was responsible for firefighters’ training and obviously there were shortcomings.
The fire council says it will retest the entire department, and we agree with some of the officers who passed the testing who say they should not have to be retested. Thirty-three firefighters passed the tests the first time around, and those who demonstrated proficiency should be exempt from retesting. But it’s clear that the remainder of the department’s officers need to get busy training for the next round.
Copyright 2008 The Macon Telegraph