“I’m a little busy right now to be lectured about a radio for an administrator, okay? So when I’m done, you can fire me. Thank you. I got to go.”
A few days after that exchange while Seward County Fire Chief Andrew Barkley was responding to a raging brush fire, he resigned.
Whether that's exactly why he quit has not been made public, KWCH reported.
Before radio silence, Barkley told Commissioner Steven Helm he could get one in the office.
It wasn't for him. It was for County Administrator April Warden, who said she needed a radio to direct resources although there was no indication she was responding or had plans to.
“The deal with the radio was not needing to talk on the radio, to have communication. It was to be able to hear where the command sites were, where we need to send the water tankers, where we needed to send the farmers with the disks. Unfortunately, we did not have anybody doing that,” Warden said.
Barkley was not only the fire chief but the Director of Emergency Management at the time.
About the Author
Susan Nicol
News Editor
Susan Nicol is the news editor for Firehouse.com. She is a life member and active with the Brunswick Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue Company, Oxford Fire Company and Brunswick Vol. Fire Co. Susie has been an EMT in Maryland since 1976. Susie is vice-president of the Frederick County Fire/Rescue Museum. She is on the executive committee of Frederick County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association. She also is part of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) Region II EMS Council. Susie is a board member of the American Trauma Society, Maryland Division. Prior to joining the Firehouse team, she was a staff writer for The Frederick News-Post, covering fire, law enforcement, court and legislative issues.