Rescue procedures updated; Qualla's contract inadequate

By Lisa Majors-Duff

In an attempt to head off what some had termed a potential "turf battle" between Jackson County Rescue Squad Unit 1 and the Qualla Fire and Rescue Squad, county commissioners asked representatives of both departments to sit down at the table and discuss their differences.

A problem involving the two rescue providers arose when Qualla requested its contract with the county be revised to allow them to perform all types of rescues, not just vehicle extrications as they had been approved to perform since 1996. A revised contract was drafted by county attorney Raymond Large and approved by commissioners March 7 provided it not conflict with Unit 1's contract with the county.

Appearing before the board March 21, Unit 1 representative Kenny Melton told commissioners that his board of directors was not in favor of giving up rescue responsibilities in Qualla. It was Unit 1's desire to continue to serve as the "primary" rescue provider in the Qualla District, and modifications to Unit 1's contract removing that designation would not be acceptable, he said.

Approving a new contract for Qualla would, indeed, cause the two contracts to conflict, county Manager Ken Westmoreland told the board. "You can't have two 'primary' providers," he said.

But county attorney Large, who was not present at the March 28 meeting, Tuesday disagreed with Westmoreland's assessment of the contracts.

"After reviewing the contracts, it appears to me that both Qualla and Unit 1 can perform rescues in the Qualla service area," Large said, "assuming the proposed revisions to the Qualla contract are adopted."

Large's opinion appears to be in agreement with the decision reached at the conclusion of the March 28 meeting. Upon the recommendation of county Emergency Coordinator Mike Ensley, board members agreed that both rescue squads should be paged to all requests for rescue service, with the exception of vehicle extrications, a service Qualla has exclusively been providing since 1996.

While Qualla has been operating under departmental by-laws giving them the authority to perform vehicle extrications for six years, the department's contract with the county was never updated to reflect the change, said Darlene Fox, clerk to the board. The last update to the Qualla/county contract was approved in 1990 and only gives the department the authority to fight fires in the Qualla service area, she said.

Commissioners voted to approve the change in Qualla's designation in 1996, but a new contract was never drawn up, she said. The only document that reflects the change is Unit 1's contract with the county, which excludes that department from responding to car accidents in Qualla with the exception of a mutual aid situation.

Since commissioners took no further action March 28, the 1990 Qualla/county contract remains in effect, Westmoreland said Tuesday.

"Both contracts need to be rewritten and have spelled out explicitly what both departments would do in practice," the county manager said.

Westmoreland went on to say that additional study on the issue of allowing fire departments to take on rescue responsibilities is required. A move such as is being proposed in Qualla "could create the situation of undermining (Unit 1) from a financial standpoint," he said, if county funds are diverted to other departments. On the other hand, "it's natural for fire departments to pick up rescue services; it would not be out of the ordinary," he said. "If that's the direction the county wants to go, then it should be studied from all angles."

That is not the direction Commissioner Roberta Crawford would like to see the county go, judging from her statements during the March 28 meeting.

"I'm really afraid if we do this we are going to open a whole new can of worms," said Crawford of approving Qualla's request to perform rescue services. "Everyone will want to do this, and we can't afford to fund additional rescue squads around the county."

Commissioner Stacy Buchanan appeared to be in favor of allowing fire department volunteers to also provide rescue duties when he suggested both Unit 1 and Qualla be called to the scene of an emergency in the Qualla service area.

"Wouldn't the citizens of Qualla benefit if both units were paged? That way you'd be sure the citizens are double covered," said Buchanan. "You can never have too much help, can you?"

Continuing to defend his department's request, Qualla Chief David Bell pointed out that "mass confusion" could result from too many volunteers being called to an emergency scene.

While eight members of Qualla's department are being trained to respond to what the state has defined as "light" rescue situations, according to Bell, Unit 1 has 25 active members, said Ben Clawson, Unit 1's chief.

"You've got confusion on every scene for the first five or 10 minutes," said Ensley, who agreed that in the future both departments could be paged with the first on the scene responsible for establishing command and evaluating the situation.

"But when you're in charge, you've got responsibilities," Ensley said. "It may be a three-hour thing; it may be a 28-day thing."

Much of last week's meeting centered on the terms "primary" and "secondary" provider. As it turns out, neither of these terms is used in Qualla's revised nor Unit 1's current contracts.

Westmoreland, who offered the opinion that the contracts would conflict if Qualla were given additional rescue responsibilities, said Tuesday that his assessment of that conflict came from Qualla's verbal request to be listed as "primary" rescue providers in their district.

Qualla was requesting the change in its contract because "it comes down to who can serve the Qualla community best," Bell said last week. "The fire department knows the area and we know the people."

While it sometimes takes as long as 20 minutes for Unit 1 to respond to an emergency in Qualla, the district's fire department personnel are no more than three to five minutes away, Bell said.

Another reason for the requested change to Qualla's contract was to satisfy state and federal grant requirements, Bell said. Upon further study of those requirements, use of neither term would affect a department's chances of qualifying for these grants, Ensley said.

Once the group agreed that both departments would be called to scenes requiring rescue personnel, Commissioner Conrad Burrell commented, "I don't see that we have a problem."

That may or may not be the case. Qualla's representatives at the March 28 meeting said they would take the county's decision back to their board of directors for additional discussion. There also remains the question of Qualla's 1990 contract with the county, Fox said, which as it stands now only allows the department to put out fires.

Back to Archive: 04/04/02.