STATter 911

Chief George Alexander from FairfaxCounty.gov

Watch the two stories from May 9 and August 10, 1978

Read the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department timeline

A lot of fire and EMS organizations have long been jealous of the resources made available to the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department. But news stories from almost 30 years ago paint a very different picture. Read the words of one union official on August 10, 1978, as he and others complained about staffing, discrimination and harrassment: "We can no longer suffer the damages that are being done by our top level administrators. The members of this organization are totally fed up. They will stand for it no longer".

At the same time, Chief George Alexander said, "I think we've got the best fire and rescue service around".

The Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters Association went very public with their claims. The union spokesman making the charges was Glenn Benarick, who retired a few years ago as a deputy chief (something must have changed in the interim).

Benarick also spoke up in May of that year, after 5 people died in a fire at the Brooks Motor Lodge on Richmond Highway, south of Station 11. One of the complaints then was there were not enough people to man (the term of the day) the rescue squad. Deputy Chief Eugene Gray said staffing was not an issue.

About a week later, it was reported there had been a delay in dispatching the alarm to the Brooks Motor Lodge. A police officer was apparently sent first to check out the call. The time lost was reported to be more than 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Some firefighters still claim there was a lack of accountability for that mistake and other major department problems.

Chief Alexander headed the department from 1971 until a consultants report was released in 1982. According to a department history, the report led to a reorganization. When Warren Isman took over in 1983, the Board of Supervisors had already established the framework, which included the following:

A minimum staffing requirement for units.

# posted by Dave Statter @ 7:37 PM