(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ozarks Notebook: Will New OSHA Rules Spell Trouble for Volunteer Fire Departments? [1] ['Kaitlyn Mcconnell', 'The Daily Yonder', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-09-06 Fire departments across the country are accustomed to dealing with distress, but pending changes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have them facing what feels like flames that no amount of water can extinguish. I was at a small volunteer fire department’s annual meeting in rural Missouri a few months ago when I learned of proposed OSHA changes that could affect fire departments across the country. OSHA says that the proposed “Emergency Response” standard will replace a decades-old “patchwork” of protections for professional emergency personnel that don’t do enough to keep these workers safe. The comment period for the new rule, published early this year, has ended. I doubt anyone argues that better protections are a bad thing. Yet at the volunteer department’s annual meeting, amid tables laden with a cookbook’s worth of deviled eggs, politicians waving for votes, and friends and firefighters gathered to enjoy each other’s company, I sensed trepidation for what these regulations may mean. “We are concerned about what OSHA might mandate, and of course finding funding to help meet those problems,” Leroy Kunkel, president of the fire department’s board of directors, told the attendees. He referred to equipment costs and firefighters’ physical conditions and training. Those are all things that cost money that the department in Dent County, Missouri, with a $30,000-something annual budget, simply doesn’t have. “I would want them to understand that there are things they can mandate that we just absolutely cannot afford and there would no longer be any fire protection,” Kunkel said.“OSHA means well because they’re looking at standards for the workers. Yes, we need to be safe, and safety is something every fire department really stresses. But sometimes to meet the standards that somebody sets, it gets to be impossible.” It should be noted: As the text currently reads, volunteer fire departments aren’t directly affected by the changes OSHA may make. As the federal agency itself puts it, “OSHA has no authority over how individual states regulate volunteers.” But fire leaders disagree. A potluck dinner – featuring extra-large pans of pulled pork, crockpots and pans with noodles and cheese, at least five plates of deviled eggs – preceded the business meeting. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell) Confusion over Impact of the Changes “[The proposed change in regulations] does directly affect volunteer firefighters in about 26 states,” said Dave Denniston, chair of the National Volunteer Fire Council’s OSHA Task Force. “And in the states that it doesn’t directly [effect], there’s a bunch of legal opinions that have come out that said it will be binding on some of them as well depending on how the fire department is organized.” The commonality about the proposed regulatory changes, I have learned, is confusion. There are differences in how states are governed by OSHA regulations. There are questions about how fire departments are classified. Ultimately, there’s concern about how this affects fire service across the country, and into the future. “If you read what they (OSHA) sent you, in about 20 different places in there it says, ‘This doesn’t impact the volunteer fire service,’” Denniston said. “When they had the committee put together where they discussed this, they told them this would not impact the volunteer fire service. But it does impact the volunteer fire service in the way that it’s written. That’s where all the confusion lies: in legal opinions of who it does and doesn’t affect.” In a press release, OSHA said the new rules will help integrate old and disconnected regulations and update standards to reflect advances in emergency services. “The proposal will include major changes for protective clothing and equipment and significant improvements in safety and health practices that the industry generally accepts as standard procedures.” The idea of better safety isn’t a bad thing, said Larry Jennings, president of the Fire Fighters Association of Missouri (FFAM) in an interview. The bottom line, he said, is that “there’s a lot of unknowns; there’s a lot of ambiguity in this whole thing.” “We understand that it does have many provisions that actually would be beneficial to the fire service,” Jennings said. “Our interest is obviously in protecting our fire service personnel, and there are many things in this proposed rule change that would enhance some safety aspects and those types of things. “It’s not that the total thing is terrible – it’s the further-down-the-road ramifications if it’s put in place as it currently stands.” Locals attended the annual meeting, which doubled as a social event. As Leroy Kunkel, the department’s president put it: “We lost our school and a lot of other things,” Leroy said. “So the fire department is really the only sense of community that we have.” (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell) What Are the Concerns? Jennings said the proposed regulations raise concerns about how fire departments will be able to continue operating if they are compelled to comply with unfunded mandates. There are also concerns about practices that could become expectations or regulations, even when they aren’t formally written into law now. Other standards may be included “by reference” from the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), a nonprofit organization that develops and disseminates information and certifications for dealing with various hazards, including fire. “Under OSHA law, when a national standard is incorporated ‘by reference,’ any place in that standard where there’s trigger words – in this case, it’s the word ‘shall’ and the word ‘must’ – that becomes part of the regulation,” Denniston said. Another concern is about equipment. “A very basic, plain-Jane fire engine right now is probably safely in the $400,000 to $500,000 range,” said Jennings. “If you’ve got a department making $25,000 a year off of bake sales, they’re not going to be able to buy a new truck.” Then there’s the potential liability. “If this passed as a federal rule, it’s going to be a federal rule that’s out there, and when anybody doesn’t obey the rule or follow the rule, it’s going to leave them a liability problem should something go wrong – somebody gets injured or killed,” Denniston said. He gives examples of NFPA standards: “Even though they’re just the standard and they’re not the law, those have been used in several court cases across the country to try and convict fire chiefs because they didn’t follow this recognized standard that was out there.” It’s clear there is a lot of talk about what that means – including more than 4,000 comments to OSHA, all of which are available online. One of them was from Jennings himself, who attached a letter on behalf of the FFAM. “With volunteer and combination agencies still providing the largest amount of fire protection services in the U.S. it is conceivable that this proposal in its current form could unwittingly shutter the doors in many communities,” he wrote. “Many of the proposed provisions could be helpful and would address ongoing safety of volunteer fire personnel, but the costs, both financially and in time … may prove to be unachievable and result in the loss of fire protection in areas across the nation.” “The agency must now consider all those comments in developing a final rule,” said Egan Reich, director of Media and Editorial Services in the Office of Public Affairs with the U.S. Department of Labor. “OSHA has not estimated a timeline for this part of the process, but it generally takes several months or more.” Another next step includes an informal public hearing, which begins in November 2024. Effects on Rural Departments As I travel through Ozarks hills and hollers, I regularly see signs and small fire houses reminding me of the role these departments play in our largely rural region. Some receive partial tax funding, but many do not – leading to a handful of volunteers who feel called to help ensure folks in their area have some level of fire protection. That is the case in Jadwin, where I attended the fire department’s annual meeting in April. Recently, I got back in touch with the fire department board president, Kunkel, who spoke at the meeting I attended. His concerns are still there, but we also talked about the realities of life before the department came to be. Leroy Kunkel, president of the Jadwin Volunteer Fire Department, speaks at the annual meeting. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell) “Basically, there was just no fire protection,” he told me, referring to homes in the area. “No fire protection leads to higher insurance, and no fire protection leads to not being able to purchase at all, too.” He remembers the tragedies – “The Ozarks has always had a history of pretty high fire losses,” he said. “Seems like we’ve got a group of fire bugs or something.” One such incident involved his own uncle’s home. Kunkel remembers the call, decades ago, that drew the family to the flames. “While we were thinking about getting organized, we were at church one night and my uncle got a phone call that his house was on fire,” said Kunkel. “We went over there, and it was sure a helpless feeling to sit there and watch it burn.” The Jadwin department was officially organized in 1995. Today, it has around 20 firefighters and raises most of that $30,000 to $34,000 budget through memberships, which run around $100 per year. Jadwin firefighters do not receive any compensation for this work. The department’s fire truck is from 1984; it’s currently being replaced by one from 1999. They respond to between 40 and 60 calls annually. Some of the calls may be for structure fires or car accidents. The bulk of their calls relate to medical emergencies and grass fires, he said. Neighbor Helping Neighbor Those realities are also true in Arkansas. Keith Karnes is a firefighter leader in Searcy County, Arkansas. He is involved in several roles, including as assistant chief of the Witts Springs department, as president of the Searcy County Fire Chiefs Association, and the Fire Service Coordinator for Searcy County. “These unfunded mandates that (they) keep coming up with are just killing volunteer fire departments,” said Karnes, who began his fire service more than 15 years ago. “I’ve read that these OSHA requirements that they’re proposing right now are estimated to cost departments – each department – around $15,000 a year. In my part of the world, that is the complete budget for an entire year for the whole department.” Arkansas funds its fire departments differently than Missouri; legislation called Act 833 provides a small amount of government funding to help cover department costs. While it’s distributed annually, it’s not enough to cover significant cost increases. Right now, it’s about $12,000 to $13,000 a year. As Karnes put it, the budget is like “putting 10 pounds of corn in a five-pound sack.” Those funds cover things like insurance, propane and fuel. Like so many other small departments, they do not cover compensation for the firefighters, many of whom are also responsible for taking time off work to attend trainings, not to mention the time they spend fighting fires. “It’s strictly somebody that wants to help,” said Karnes. “People that literally want to help their neighbor. The volunteer fire departments in this part of the world and Arkansas in general are very local. We’re just wanting to help our neighbors – that’s it.” That desire is admirable everywhere but especially relevant in areas like Dent and Searcy counties, which are very remote. “Where I’m sitting right now, I’m probably 45 miles to the nearest Walmart,” said Karnes. “Aside from places in Wyoming and the Dakotas, it’s probably one of the most remote places that there is in the continental United States.” That distance means hyper-local departments play a crucial role when something goes wrong. “There’s very few natural disasters that you can actually do something,” said Karnes. “A fire is something, if you get there quick, you can actually do some good. A tornado, hurricane, earthquake – you’re kind of left on your own. There’s not much you can do. But a fire, if there’s somebody close, you can actually do some good.” Daily Yonder columnist Kaitlyn McConnell is the founder of Ozarks Alive, a cultural preservation project through which she has documented the region through hundreds of articles since 2015. Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailyyonder.com/ozarks-notebook-volunteer-fire-depts-worry-about-osha-changes/2024/09/06/ Published and (C) by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailyyonder/