By Jared Hunt
The Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While BrickStreet Insurance has announced that it will no longer carry broadform liability coverage for volunteer firefighters, another insurance agency is saying they will now offer that form of coverage to fire departments.
Volunteer Firemen’s Insurance Services has announced that it will extend broadform coverage to state fire departments that already have insurance plans through VFIS.
West Virginia State Firemen’s Association member Thomas Miller announced the new coverage to members in an e-mail yesterday.
The move comes after BrickStreet announced it would stop providing fire departments with that form of coverage by Sept. 1.
“I would like to personally thank Troy Markel, president of VFIS and Bill Bailey, Linda Connolly, John Bailey and Dave Camp — all of VFIS of West Virginia — for their work in helping out West Virginia’s fire service,” Miller said. “They have been very responsive to our concerns by advocating on our behalf and are willing to work with us as we continue to press the legislature for immunity clarification and work to resolve this dilemma related to our workers compensation coverage.”
Broadform liability insurance offers protection to fire chiefs and officers, as well as members of fire department boards of directors, from liability if a firefighter is injured in the line of duty.
The state firemen’s association has been seeking clarification from the state Legislature and Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline’s office as to whether the volunteer fire departments qualify for liability immunity under the Government Torts Claims Act.
The law says that government officials can be sued if they have “deliberate intent” in sending an employee into working conditions they know to be unsafe.
Some fire departments had said they would stop answering calls if the state did not step up to help resolve the issue with coverage.
Last week, Gov. Joe Manchin announced that the state Board of Risk and Insurance Management would offer to cover 281 volunteer fire departments that had been faced with losing broadform coverage with that coverage through June 30, 2011.
A task force, headed by state Revenue Secretary Virgil Helton, was formed in June to address workers compensation issues with covering volunteer fire departments, but state firefighters had threatened to walk away over the broadform coverage issue.
“BRIM’s action is a temporary solution that will allow VFDs to receive continual broadform coverage while providing ample time for the task force to fully study the issues and find a permanent solution,” Manchin said last week.
“Our volunteer firefighters, and the communities they serve, are eager to see the fire departments’ insurance needs addressed.”
The VFIS move comes as other state agencies consider alternative providers of workers compensation coverage besides BrickStreet.
BrickStreet has said one of the difficulties in covering volunteer fire departments is the fact that they pay out $7 in disbursements for every $1 in premiums collected.
Copyright 2010 Charleston Newspapers