From Duwayne Escobedo:
Escambia County hand delivered volunteer firefighter state certification records the Independent News requested two weeks ago. The list gives the name of the volunteers in each station and whether they’re certified.
Originally, the county gave the IN a 1-page report dated Nov. 16, 2006, prepared by the Escambia County Volunteer Fire Department. It reported 174 of 436 or 38.8 percent of volunteers had the state required 160 hours of training, or Firefighter 1 Certification.
A March 15 report done by Escambia County Fire Rescue that was verified with the State Fire Marshal’s Florida State Fire College, which keeps track of certifications, shows 104 (23.9 percent) have Firefighter 1-level certification. That’s 70 fewer volunteers who are certified than reported by the volunteer stations initially.
However, the county says the numbers do not take into account the firefighters, who had completed 40-60 hour state training that was mandated before 2003 and were granted and exemption from the higher standards.
On paper, some of the biggest discrepancies between the November volunteer report and March county report are Ferry Pass, which reported 30 state certified people but has 12 according to the county. West Pensacola (16-2), Walnut Hill (15-3) and Beulah (13-5). Myrtle Grove reported 10 certified but the county reported 11.
