Following a controversial decision by the fire department’s board of directors, Macon County officials and citizens alike had questions about the state of affairs at Cullasaja Gorge Fire and Rescue.
On Thursday, July 1, the fire department had its annual meeting, which interim fire chief Bobby Henry says was open to property owners within the district. During the meeting, the board of directors decided to stop allowing non-residents of the district to serve as firefighters, a move which disenfranchised several current volunteers who live outside the district. In anticipation of this decision, 14 volunteers turned in their gear and resigned during the meeting, prompting concern from all over the county about the department’s readiness to handle emergencies. While Henry did not propose the idea himself, he thinks it makes sense as a way to ensure speedy response times.
“The main thing is making sure that people are close by,” Henry said. “That’s something a lot of people have voiced concern over.”
Macon County Emergency Management Director Warren Cabe went to the fire department for a roster inspection on July 6. A volunteer fire department has to have at least 15 active members according to state law, so with such a huge exodus of volunteers, there was some worry that Cullasaja Gorge might be put on probation. At the time of the inspection, the department still had more than enough active members to remain operational – in fact, their team has gotten bigger since their last inspection.
“When we inspected, they had 32 members on the roster,” Cabe said. “Of the 32, 22 members had sufficient training to be considered active members. They added 18 new members to the roster. There were new members that had already received three hours of training, which is required in their first month. Eight of the 18 new members had previously been members at CGFR and there was a net gain of two certified firefighters and a net gain of two trained medical response personnel.”
However, the way everything went down has still led to some divisions in the community. Firefighters who put in the time to prepare to protect the Cullasaja Gorge district feel slighted that they’re being pushed out just because of their home addresses. Many residents took to social media to complain about the decision, where some have argued that the department has been dodging questions from constituents and some even claim that their comments on the department’s posted press release were deleted on Facebook. Excluding some people from the meeting based on residency status also raised some questions about Chapter 143, Article 33C of the North Carolina General Statutes, which asserts that any board with public policy-making abilities must conduct their business openly.
“My position is that the department is a public body/public agency subject to both the open meetings and public records law,” said Amanda Martin, a communications lawyer with the firm Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych PLLC.
Chris Houston, a former Cullasaja Gorge firefighter, is suspicious of the roster report as well. He said that just because a fire department has an adequate number of people recorded doesn’t mean that those people are necessarily up to the task. If those 32 roster members aren’t all well-trained and committed to the job, Cullasaja Gorge could have some serious problems going forward.
“It’s a complete foolishness,” Houston said. “When I joined there 10 years ago, they were one member away from having to shut down. Most of the members then were just paper members.
I suspect that’s the case again.”
In any case, the Cullasaja Gorge station remains operational. The county will continue to inspect them once a month for the next three months and make sure that they’re well-staffed and responsive going forward. Henry isn’t terribly worried, though. He trusts the firefighters still with the department and, following some new additions just in the past week, he expects the future will be bright.
“Making sure you have enough volunteers is always a concern, especially at this time of year when people are on vacation or they’re going out of town, but we have a great group of guys here,” Henry said.