Vote Of No Confidence

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Check Out Federal Sector Under Naval District Washington. Another Chief On The Political Chopping Block.....

[Flash Over]

Navy firefighters vote ‘no confidence’ in regional chief
Lack of training, policies, gear cited
Friday, May 9, 2008
By PAUL C. LEIBE

Staff writer

Union firefighters assigned to fire stations from across the geographic area covered by Naval District Washington this week submitted a document of censure – a vote of no confidence – against Edward G. Stillwell, NDW’s regional fire chief.

‘‘We have 220 firefighters” working at NDW stations, said Greg Russell, president of the National Capitol Professional Federal Fire Fighters Local F-121, ‘‘plus supervisors. More than 90 percent of our membership has signed this paper.

‘‘It’s rare that something like this ever happens,” he said, ‘‘not more than once in the past 25 years in the federal sector, maybe a little more frequently in the public sector.”

NDW has oversight of the fire stations and personnel working at Patuxent River Naval Air Station and the Webster Field Annex in St. Inigoes.

‘‘We have [NDW] fire stations stretching from Camp David to Dahlgren” in Virginia, Russell said, ‘‘and from Carderock to the Naval Academy, all working under Chief Stillwell’s direction.”

Among the union’s complaints, Russell said, are that Stillwell ‘‘hasn’t bothered to get us additional training” beyond the basic entry-level courses. ‘‘And we still don’t have a formal set of written rules and regulations.

‘‘There’s no regional policy,” Russell continued, ‘‘and we still don’t have a ‘mayday’ procedure to follow, if one of us should get in trouble” at the scene of an emergency.

‘‘Chief Stillwell allows new and experienced firefighters to answer emergency calls,” Russell said, ‘‘without the necessary up-to-date training. We get hired, and then get forgotten.

Russell also said Stillwell ‘‘has not ensured that all firefighters have proper protective gear for dangerous incidents, such as bomb searches. And [he] has failed to provide adequate communications equipment. Specifically, the radios ... are not interoperable among the military installations ... radio unreliability puts the lives of firefighters and citizens at risk.”

The union censure also alleges that Stillwell ‘‘has not taken steps to follow applicable National Fire Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.”

‘‘He’s been in charge for nearly five years now,” said Russell, ‘‘and we’re still waiting for him to address some serious issues we have. We felt we had no other choice but to take this decisive action.”

A copy of the censure document was delivered to Stillwell’s office at the Washington Navy Yard on Wednesday.

‘‘We received the document today,” said NDW spokesman Ed Ziegler, ‘‘and a copy has been sent to the operations director in the human relations office, who is now looking into it.”

Russell said if no action is taken before August, the firefighters will take their complaints to the International Association of Fire Fighters summer conference, ‘‘where we hope to get the weight of 288,000 professional firefighters behind us.”