Top Five Actions or Inactions That Will Create Legal Challenges for You
Every day, the Fire Chief and their staff face issues, some having a legal impact on their departments and others taking common sense to resolve. Legal issues require a solid understanding of the consequences of not paying attention to the department, especially personnel issues.
The fire service is in the risk prevention and mitigation business designed to prevent and resolve situations that harm the general public we are bound to protect. The many laws and guidelines, such as the NFPA standards, state and local laws and ordinances, and your training, response, and safety policies, are in place for your protection, the firefighters, and the community.
Laws are in place for many reasons. To act as guidelines, as a reminder that we need to play by the rules, to act as a deterrent for any current or future action, and to model behavior with staff and firefighters on how to act, respond, manage, and mitigate situations facing your department. It’s not rocket science - it's your education, experience, focus, and proactive action.
This class will outline several issues (out of hundreds) that could place your department in legal jeopardy. The class is designed to identify several of those issues and provide some solutions to assist you in preventing a legal conflagration that may affect your department.
During his fire service career, he was a Paramedic, Medical Services Officer, Chief of Training and Operations Chief. He was the Chief of the City of Sammamish (WA) prior to his retirement. He serves as an expert witness involving fire department litigation and has been involved in numerous cases across the country. He is an Instructional Professor at the University of Florida lecturing on EMS and Fire Service Legal Issues.
He is also a licensed physician’s assistant in the State of Washington for over 40 years working in urgent/emergency care and occupational health. He formerly served as an FMF Navy Corpsman with the United States Marine Corps.
He has authored over 150 articles in various publications. In 1996 he was selected by Fire Chief Magazine as Fire Chief of the Year in 1996. He has published 4 books and 7 photography books. He received the Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels Meritorious Service Award. The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2022 he received the Jimmy Seavey Health and Wellness award presented by the NVFC. and the Presidents Award from the International Society of Fire Service Instructors.
He was one of the founders of the Volunteer and Combination Officer Section (VCOS) and the National Fire Academy Alumni Association. He has contributed to several “ribbon reports” published by the VCOS. He was asked to be one of the editors for the original Lavender Ribbon Report published by the VCOS and NVFC in 2019. In 2021 he along with Brian McQueen spearheaded the update for the Lavender Ribbon Report. He is a principal author of the Yellow Ribbon Report and the updated updated Training Volunteers white paper published by the National Volunteer Fire Council and the Volunteer and Combination Officers Section.
