By Johnny Johnson
The Oklahoman
OKLAHOMA CITY — Citing budget shortfalls and staff reductions, the Oklahoma fire marshal’s office has announced unprecedented cutbacks in operations that could have a trickle down effect in homicide and arson investigations and cost rural sheriff’s departments more than they can afford.
Last week, the state fire marshal announced that a 20 percent reduction in staff means the department may need up to 72 hours to respond to a suspicious fire or arson resulting in a fatality or a critical injury.
Up until last week, an investigator would always respond to such fires within 48 hours.
A call placed Monday to the assistant fire marshal seeking information on the operational changes produced the following voice message:
“Hi this is JoAnne Sellars. Today is Monday April 19. I’ll be out all day today on furlough. You may reach me the rest of the week starting Tuesday.”
As Fire Marshal Robert Doke explained, his administrative staff has begun taking voluntary furloughs to try to get the office through the rest of the fiscal year without terminating anyone.
But even on furlough, he said, staff members usually still take phone calls and return e-mail.
“Last Friday was my furlough day,” Doke said. “But I was in the office anyway. We still have work that has to be done.”
Cutbacks
The fire marshal’s office is currently rated for 34 positions, Doke said. But over the last couple of years, as budgetary concerns began to grow, when positions became vacant, they weren’t filled.
“We have 27 people right now,” Doke said. “That means things are going to slow down and we just simply can’t meet the statutory requirement of 48-hour response any more.”
And in many cases, like grass fires with minimum property damage, Doke said he is not sure his office will respond at all.
“The sheriff will just have to do a report and mark it as cause accidental or unknown,” the fire marshal said.
But it’s the fires involving homicides that really concern Doke.
“If there is a fire fatality, nobody wants to leave a body there,” Doke said. “So if we are not able to respond as soon as possible, then we will have to rely on the sheriff and/or the medical examiner to conduct that report.”
Doke said that might leave some holes in the investigation.
“There are usually three of us — each with a particular skill. But if we’re not there, then one-third of the puzzle is possibly missing, and it may be that we have a homicide where we are not able to determine the cause of the fire. I hope that never happens, but I would say it’s a strong possibility.”
But knowing his staff the way he does, Doke said, if it’s possible to solve a case, it will get solved.
Reaction
While the state fire marshal’s office doesn’t typically investigate fires in larger cities that have their own fire investigators, those in rural Oklahoma rely heavily on the state agents.
“This is going to affect us severely,” Watonga Fire Chief Mark Huff said. “We try to do the best we can with what we have, but we have to rely on the expertise of the state fire marshal’s office when we need it.”
And with 15 fatal fires throughout rural Oklahoma so far this year, Huff said, rural departments depend on the fire marshal more than many people might think.
Huff said he has had some training from the fire marshal’s office and in a pinch, he can do some aspects of a big investigation, but some of the smaller and less experienced departments are going to have a hard time.
Ellis County Sheriff DeWayne Miller is no stranger to making do with limited resources. He, along with an undersheriff and three deputies are tasked with patrolling 1,225 square miles and covering emergencies around the clock. And when one of his jailers got sick over the weekend, the sheriff had to work the night shift as a jailer.
That’s why cutbacks at the state level could devastate his department.
“To maintain a pristine crime scene, we will have to stage one or two people there until we can relinquish it to the fire marshal,” he said. “And there’s only five of us.”
What’s next
In addition to delays in fire investigation, the state fire marshal is also announcing delays in code assistance inspection, building consultation requests, and building plan reviews, and the office is expecting additional employee furloughs and/or reductions in work force. On July 1, the fire marshal’s office will get its new fiscal budget that will determine the future of the agency.
Until then, Doke said he and the rest of his staff is doing everything possible to try to keep his family together and to do their job to the best of their ability.
“We’ve been good doing more with less, but we’re at the point that it just can’t be done anymore,” Doke said. “But I also know the sun’s gonna come up in the east tomorrow and we’ll do what can until it goes down, then we’ll start it all over again the next day.”
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