“There are holes in the system,” said Dick DeVore, the director of Allegany County’s department of emergency services. There are possible solutions being reviewed, said Clarence Broadwater, president of the Allegany and Garrett Counties Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association. Broadwater said there’s been some talk of working with Sheriff Craig Robertson on figuring out a way to do background checks for volunteer companies.
The Goodwill Volunteer Fire Department of Lonaconing has arrangements to do formal background checks, but not every department can do that, said Broadwater. Company officials review any findings of a criminal record and then vote on the person’s application. A single conviction, especially one involving a minor crime several years old, might not exclude an applicant, Broadwater said. “We’re pretty strict on ours,” Broadwater said. All volunteers are on a one-year probation period after admission to the department.
Broadwater said he’d like to have a formal arrangement with one law enforcement agency to do the background checks.
One of the main troubles for background checks by the individual departments is expense. Volunteer fire companies and their officers don’t have automatic access to police databases or court records. While Maryland law authorizes background checks through the State Fire Marshal’s Office for volunteer firefighters and rescue squad personnel, the law does not currently require those checks. And even if a volunteer company wanted to do the checks through the state fire marshal, it couldn’t. The Office of the State Fire Marshal hasn’t been doing the checks for about three years because of personnel and budget constraints, said Bruce D. Bouch, a deputy state fire marshal.
Many departments check records through the Maryland Judiciary Case Search, but those records are not official and only cover criminal records in Maryland, not in the states of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, which are only minutes away, DeVore said. The advantage of using the online case search is that it’s simple and free. One alternative is to hire a professional to search court records, but that can be expensive, DeVore said.
Full-time paid firefighters, like those working for the city Of Cumberland, do face background checks, although a criminal conviction does not always rule out a candidate, said Cumberland Fire Chief Donald Dunn. The city police department handles the checks, Dunn said. Like all city personnel, firefighters are subject to random drug testing. Dunn said about two to three fire department personnel get a test each month. City Administrator Jeff Rhodes said the testing is for all employees, including himself, not only public safety personnel.
If a prospective firefighter has a criminal conviction, decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, Dunn said.
“It depends on what they’ve been charged with or convicted of,” and how long ago, Dunn said. A theft conviction, along with many felonies, is a problem. “We’re in so many people’s houses,” Dunn said.
In recent weeks, at least two local volunteer firefighters faced criminal charges. In one of those cases, a volunteer firefighter accused of arson had a previous conviction related to setting a fire.
It’s important for the public to remember the good and life-saving work volunteers do, said Broadwater. “You can’t control everyone ... people make bad choices,” Broadwater said.
In August, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a requirement that volunteer firefighter applicants submit to a background check for any prior sex offense convictions, according to Cuomo’s office. The law, though, allows individual fire companies to determine if the prospective volunteer is eligible to become a member if that person has been convicted of a registerable sex offense.
North Carolina last year also passed a law allowing fire chiefs of volunteer companies to request background checks for volunteer firefighters and rescue personnel.
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