Burningtown-Iotla Fire and Rescue found itself again in the hot seat after Fire Marshal Jimmy Teem could not recommend the department be removed from probation.
After a lengthy discussion including testimony from BIFR volunteers and leaders and Teem during the Macon County Board of Commissioners meeting on Aug. 12, commissioners voted down a motion to terminate the county’s agreement with BIFR but chose to keep the department on probation.
Teem outlined the department’s progress over the course of the past few months. He cited a June 4 inspection by Macon Fire Services Captain Chad Hand that found BIFR was lacking hose test records, had not completed background checks for new members and that training records had not been updated. He also noted there were only 19 members at the department, 16 of which were eligible firefighters.
At a July 7 inspection, the only stated concern was that the department only had 19 members and 16 eligible firefighters. BIFR was initially placed on probation 13 months ago in July 2024, after inspections revealed the department had fallen short of the 19 members with 36 training hours apiece required by the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
At a May 28 meeting with the county commissioners, BIFR Chief Kenneth McCaskill requested more time to recruit and train additional members after the department again fell below state requirements. The department was given a July 31 deadline to meet those state thresholds and ensure state incident reporting requirements were met.
On July 8, McCaskill reported the department expected to meet all those requirements, with between 23 and 24 members fully trained by the beginning of August.
Teem said the department had met the required membership levels as of an Aug. 1 inspection, but that eight members were not on the N.C. State Fireman’s Association Roster, which would prevent them from accessing state benefits in the event of an injury or accident. Teem also said he had set up a drill to demonstrate what BIFR members could do, but that the drill was not carried out.
“We really don’t know what the members of the department can do,” Teem said, “that’s what that was going to be designed for.”
Later, Teem said, “I think the fire protection in the Burningtown district without the response of another department is inadequate, which in my opinion, puts the residents of this district in jeopardy and that Burningtown-Iotla Fire and Rescue are unable to assume full duties. My assumption is based on inspection results, [computer-aided dispatch] reports, fire reports from other departments for the past 13 months and a comment made by a member of Burningtown-Iotla Fire Department at a commissioners meeting, reflecting that they would rely on mutual aid for manpower.”
McCaskill said the department had worked hard to meet the county’s deadline for recruiting and training new members and for filing missed reports, and had even moved the inspection date up a week to accommodate Commissioner John Shearl’s desire to be present. However, he felt BIFR had been ambushed with an unexpected drill and requests for unnecessary records.
“Our inspection was moved ahead a week early, and we had everything that was requested,” McCaskill said. “We checked training records. These training records included online training, included in-house training. It included Southwestern Community College training. So anything that we couldn’t show Mr. Hand [before], I showed him the certificates that were in the personnel files, I showed him the background checks we had done for those new members.”
McCaskill also said inspectors had asked for the number of members with Commercial Drivers Licenses, where only Emergency Vehicle Driver licenses are required. He said the department was scheduling EVD classes for more of its members. McCaskill said he had received no advanced notice of the drill.
“So this drill started without me getting a chance to know what was happening, to let our mutual aid companies know that we were going to have two pieces of apparatus tied up, the water dumped off one of them, significant amounts of our personnel that showed up occupied; I knew nothing about these, that endangered my community,” McCaskill said.
Teem said that the drill involved a basic setup firefighters would be expected to be able to perform when preparing to fight a structure fire, and BIFR was not given notice because of how basic the setup is. Teem said he wanted “the assurance they could accomplish setting up this basic procedure to pump water.”
Shearl put forward a motion to dissolve the county’s contract with BIFR to provide fire service to the Burningtown community. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Danny Antoine for discussion but was voted down three to two with Shearl and Chair Josh Young voting in favor and Commissioners Barry Breeden, Gary Shields and Antoine voting against.
If the vote had been successful, the board would have had to immediately draft a new contract, which would likely have been with Cowee Fire and Rescue, to provide fire services to the district. The board agreed to keep BIFR on probation with monthly updates.
“I would like to see Burningtown stay on probation until you can sustain these numbers, until you can pass those tests,” Breeden said.
“We definitely just stuck our necks out for you guys,” Antoine said. “I prefer to know that you guys can look at me right now and say within a month we’ve got this covered and can get off probation. That’s what honestly I would like to be able to see with you guys.”
In addition to being short on member numbers, when BIFR was put on probation last year, the department was behind on certain reporting requirements. The probation was initially intended to last eight months. The department had remedied the membership and training deficiency in December, according to reports from the department, but after multiple nonresponses, it remained on probation.
While on probation, Cowee Fire and Rescue was tasked with responding to calls in Burningtown alongside BIFR.