The State Fire Marshall is sending an investigator to examine training and certification of Escambia County volunteer firefighters, sources says. The career firefighters’ union alleges the lack of state-mandated training is jeopardizing county home and business owners and creating an unsafe working environment.
Meanwhile, because of a dispute over whether 174 volunteers (plus 108 who have completed training but must take state test) have proper levels of training as the volunteer chiefs contend or 104 as a county review found, county officials have reviewed its findings. The new number heard through the grapevine is 130. Assuming the volunteer chiefs numbers of 350 volunteers is correct, that means about 36 percent meet state requirements to fight structure fires.