STATter 911

Here is a comment that was sent twice on Friday and was posted:

Mr Dave Statter, I am upset that you called yourself a former Volunteer Firefighter, and a Cardiac Technician, when in fact you only signed up to be a volunteer but never rode or took any classes, and there is no record of no EMS training at MIEMSS department. You are alway trying to report stories on firefighters, carrer or volunteer because you think you know, how about WE, or other news department do a story on your background as a so call Volunteer Firefighter/EMT-C, that would be news for your rivals. I will supply them the records.

Don't you know that all of my records burned up in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904? Oh no, I'm sorry. I am confusing myself with FireGeezer.

Seriously, please share the records you have of mine that you say don't exist. I will be glad to print them here. Or, if you would like, contact me and I will give you the name of a good investigative reporter (not a hack like me) who can help you break this story wide open.

Comments like this to STATter 911 seem to crop up when I report on a controversial story. Unless they are profane, I always print them. It is important that we be as transparent as possible.

I am sure there are others who have questions about my connection to the fire service in Prince George's County, MD. It is now ancient history. So, let me try to fill in some blanks to help out my friend who has kindly written to STATter 911.

I joined the Oxon Hill Volunteer Fire Department (Station 21) in about March of 1974.

Your first tip: If you want some scandal to report about me, I rode fire trucks and went into burning buildings before getting any formal training. I also treated patients on ambulance calls without even having a first-aid card. In those days I wasn't alone.

I later took Fire School (I believe, but could be wrong, that was part of the University of MD Fire Service Extension) with either Don Bornman or Frank Holmes. I know I took a class with each of those fine gentlemen, but can't remember which class was which.

I also recall taking various other short courses, seminars and classes. One FSE class was Special Fires. My instructor in that class was Keith Fairfax, a long time member of the Bay District VFD in St. Marys County.

I took EMT in 1975 or 1976. Among those in the class was Laurie Gilman, then a volunteer at Clinton, who later worked with me at Prince George's Fire Communications.

I delivered a baby before even getting to that training in my EMT class. Lucky for me I was reading ahead and got to that chapter while sitting at Rosecroft Raceway on standby about an hour before the call came in.

In 1976 I became a Prince George's County CETA employee as part of the first group of civilians to work at Fire Communications. That later became a full time position. I worked at 5012 Rhode Island Avenue until 1979.

In 1976 or 1977 I was a sergeant at Oxon Hill. That lasted until career firefighters at Communications found some rule that precluded me from holding a rank higher than I held in the county, or some similar nonsense. I was ordered to relinquish that post and never held another line officer position. I was a member of the board of directors for a few years.

If you need it for your story, I can show you my picture as a board member that appears in the book for the 1979 Prince George's County Volunteer Firemen's Association Convention. It was held at Oxon Hill that year.

Another tip: Visuals are good when putting together a story like this.

Somehow they lost their minds at Oxon Hill, or were desperate, and let me start driving the fire trucks. My driver's training and much other training came from Jimmy Barnes, who was then assistant chief or chief at Oxon Hill.

Jimmy retired as a captain from PGFD a few years ago. I emceed his retirement banquet. From all the nasty things I said about Jimmy that night, he should be primed to give you plenty of dirt on me. I believe you can find him sitting in a rocking chair in front of the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department waving to the traffic as it goes by. You can probably find more nasty stuff about me from his brother Tommy at Accokeek.

There are scores of other members at OHVFD from 1974 to 1980 who can tell you the good, bad and ugly about me. I could give you the names, but a good investigative journalist will probably want to develop some independent sources.

Another tip: That convention book has a lot of names.

In 1977 I was chosen to be part of the first class of Cardiac Rescue Technicians in the county. Our training was at Prince George's Hospital. In fact, there is a picture of me in The Washington Star with other members of that class during our training. It actually has my name in the caption. So it is either me or some other ugly guy with a beard that looked like me and has the same name. Again, if you need that for your story, I can find it.

Also, sometime during our CRT training, PGFD Chief Jim Estepp asked me participate in a two-part "Town Hall" meeting on Channel 9 produced by Rich Adams. The topic was the delay in getting medic programs started in the Washington area as compared to Baltimore. Gordon Peterson and Bob Strickland hosted the programs.

It was the first time I met Rich and was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. It was also my first appearance on Channel 9. Rich used to have the tape of those shows, but I lost track of it after he passed away. This might not be available for your expose. Sorry.

By the way, for some unknown reason, to this day, I get confused with Rich Adams. For the record, I have met Rich Adams, and I am clearly no Rich Adams. At fire service events people often call me Rich or ask me how things are at BCC. He was a small, black male. I am a taller, white male. Go figure.

My partner for the beginning of the CRT class was Jack Snoddy. Sadly, it was discovered during the class that Jack had a terminal illness. I worked with Jack at Communications until he passed away.

Sorry that so many people who can verify my history are no longer with us. I know it doesn't help your story and probably makes you even more suspicious.

One person who was in that class and is still around is Tom Carter, then a member of Bladensburg. There were also two or three people in the class from Laurel Rescue Squad.

I took the Maryland CRT exam at Montgomery County's training center. I passed it. I got a plastic card saying I was a CRT. If you need it, I am sure it is somewhere. I also still have one of a number of blue shirts they gave me with PGFD and CRT patches. The shirts seem to have shrunk quite a bit. Cheap stuff.

When we completed our class, there were no medic units to ride. The career CRT class followed the volunteer class. I recall helping out in their training for one or two classes.

I believe the medic units hit the streets in the Fall of 1977. They were staffed by two career CRTs. The volunteers rode along as extras.

I rode a few shifts with Medic 2 at Silver Hill and I believe a couple of shifts with Medic 1 at Brentwood. It was clear that important partnerships were developing with the medic crews. While everyone was nice, I felt like an outsider and decided this wasn't for me. I much more enjoyed spending my free time at Oxon Hill.

Another scandal: Dave wasted the county's money on training he barely used.

I have no clue what documentation the state of Maryland has or doesn't have on me in reference to my EMT and CRT status (nor do I much care). You apparently do, so feel free to share it with the class.

If it will help you with your investigation, I do have a folder with various paper work covering my time in PGFD and some albums with a fair number of pictures from Oxon Hill. There is also picture that a lot of people have showing the first group of civilian dispatchers.

About 15-years-ago a friend of mine recalls seeing my personnel file from Communications. All he told me is there were a number of nasty notes from Al Goode, who was then Chief 49. It was kind of a badge of honor to get one of those.

I believe I also have two audio recordings of radio traffic where my voice is heard. One is of me riding the front seat on a natural gas explosion and fire on Alice Avenue that went to a second-alarm.

The other is an audio recording that my friend Bob Marbourg of WTOP Radio made years before we met. It is from a deadly explosion at Lee's Tavern in Hyattsville. I was working the Channel 1 radio that night.

Back in the Stone Age we didn't have cameras everywhere like today or the ability to get fireground audio off of the Internet. So I can't help you with much more documentation than what I have offered so far.

I make no claims to being even a decent firefighter, EMT, CRT or dispatcher. All of that would be for others to judge.

Hope this gives you a starting point for your story. I wish you good hunting. I am sure there is some dirt to be had. I can tell you I wasn't an angel.

One final tip: Find out what happened after the party County Executive Winfeld Kelly threw for those of us assigned to Communications. This was to thank us for the summer we spent working out of the county bookmobile while they remodeled our facility. Now that's a story (I am the only one who didn't call in sick the next day).

# posted by Dave Statter @ 9:34 PM