Most volunteer fire departments and their members take death benefits, especially the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit (PSOB), for granted. This program provides more than $300,000 to the families of members who gave the supreme sacrifice. But it turns out getting the funds can be harder than you think. Nearly eight years on after the death of Florida Firefighter Daniel Woodward, his family is still waiting for their benefits having already been denied multiple times.
It turns out that it is not enough to give your life in the service of others to automatically earn the benefit — your family, department and state also have to fight for you. Firefighter Woodward, who had been a healthy 32-year-old, died shortly after a fire on Sept. 26, 2001.
Despite Firefighter Woodward having been exposed to smoke, the medical examiner — who was disciplined later — initially classified the death as “natural causes.” It resulted in no payment via PSOB for the family. Even after a revised autopsy report in 2006 stated that the probable cause of death was smoke inhalation, his family continues to have to fight for his PSOB funds due to technicalities within the system.
Rule changes
While the rules have seen slight changes to allow more firefighters to “qualify” for the PSOB, there are still quite a few technicalities that departments need to address to make sure members do not get stuck in the situation being endured by Firefighter Woodward’s family.
While not all of these issues apply to this particular case, they are common problems that may apply to all departments.
To quote the PSOB guidance documents:
“The Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Act requires that a Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) be organized, formed, or chartered by a unit of government to act on its behalf in providing fire services to the general public.”
This one statement can be answered by a one or two line agreement, but unfortunately many departments do not have such a thing with the government they serve.
An example from the PSOB guidance document reads:
“The (insert name of VFD) is legally organized and is authorized by the (insert name of government agency) to act on its behalf by providing fire services, as its primary function, to the community of (insert name of jurisdiction).”
Ultimately it is your local government’s responsibility to provide for public safety, even if your department has been doing fire service for longer than the area has been incorporated. If you are in an unincorporated area or county, you would most likely need an agreement with the county government or state. This should be in place —and not just for PSOB-related issues — before something happens.
Meet requirements
Your department should also be aware of meeting any state requirements that may be in place concerning line-of-duty deaths. PSOB now requires that state benefits are used before federal benefits are given, and your department may have to provide the insurance or benefits for the state or you may be on the hook. If your member’s family is denied state benefits or does not take advantage of them, there is a risk that they will also be denied at the federal level as it may be considered a judgment against the claim being a LODD.
The Woodward case has the potential to help us all understand the system and set a precedent to ensure that others receive their benefits. In this case it was not the department’s fault that the family did not receive benefits, but the result of a series of problems ranging from the medical examiner’s initial report to technicalities I can’t even begin to understand. Fortunately the family was able to find pro-bono legal help to fight the system, but it is a shame that they even need to go that far.
If this sounds like a mess, it is because it is. That is why every department, no matter the size, needs to have a lawyer on retainer. It can be an expensive process, or you may be able to get pro-bono time, but it can cost the loved ones of a fallen firefighter hundreds of thousands of dollars if your department does not address all of the issues.
Legal assistance in the Woodward is being provided to the family by attorneyTara Emory. For more details on the case, contact her at tara.emory@probonolaw.com.