Fire Chief Dennis Russell is trying to hire a new fire recruitment grant administrator and as many firefighting volunteers as possible.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Bronson Fire Chief Dennis Russell is searching for new firefighters and someone to administer the town’s firefighter recruitment grant after Program Administrator Ward Batton quit without notice.

            “Ward quit. Our program manager; he just up and quit without notice or anything,” Fire Chief Dennis Russell said at the most recent town council meeting in response to questions by Mayor Beatrice Roberts.

            Russell said he has temporarily taken over as interim grant manager to ensure the grant is administered properly and all the information is sent Tallahassee on time.

            The fire chief said Batton wasn’t clocking in at the fire station and no one knew his whereabouts, and then he quit. Russell said he has sent the grant paperwork that hadn’t been mailed to Tallahassee in several months.

            “Right now we’re up to date with everything with the grant. Right now I’m listed as interim program manager until we figure out what we’re going to do; whether we’re going to do it the way we want to do it or if we’re going to hire someone else,” Russell said. “We got a lot of stuff going on with the grant, so if we stop, they’ll think we’re shutting down. I’m not being paid for it; I got to keep going forward.”

            Roberts wanted to know what was going on with Russell’s firefighters.

            “I notice we don’t have any,” she said.

            Russell responded that the fire department has six new firefighters but one has already quit due to the amount of training required. He didn’t have enough time for that much training.

            The state requires 240 hours of training for volunteer firefighters. It’s not like the old days when a volunteer could show up in jeans and a t-shirt and get hands-on training from an experienced firefighter.

            “He found out how much more training and all the stuff that goes with it. He’s not able to do that much training,” Russell said. “Four people are in the Fire One class. They are doing the online program.”

            Roberts asked how many active firefighters the town has on duty for fighting fires. She said she was aware three or four might come to a class, but she didn’t think many were responding to fires.

            “About three of us,” Russell responded.

            “I’m looking at the log sheet and I’m seeing two on the calls,” Roberts replied.

            “We’re working on that,” Russell said.

            Russell said Bronson isn’t the only local government with problems recruiting volunteers. He said the county commission has one station that isn’t manned 70 percent of the time.

            “We need to come up with something that’s going to benefit the town in the long run until we get back on our feet,” Russell said.

            “You know, we’re going to build this million-dollar fire station and we got two people in it,” Roberts said.

            Russell said Batton was supposed to be doing the recruitment of volunteers “and it wasn’t being done.”

            “When someone does come on we’re going to have to keep an open mind, we’re going to have to work together,” Roberts said.

            She said the new program grant manager may want to do things one way and Russell might see it differently, but can’t get in the way of administering the grant program.

            “The problem, he wasn’t at the firehouse; nobody knew what he was doing,” Russell responded. “He wasn’t clocking in and I don’t want to bad mouth, but there are things we need to do to make it flow so it’s done properly because everything that goes to the state we have to be accountable for it,” Russell said.

Town of Bronson Regular Meeting February 17, 2020; Posted February 27, 2020