West Virginia Firefighters Threaten Strike Over Liability Insurance

Volunteer firefighters in West Virginia are threatening to stop answering calls if the Legislature doesn’t exempt their supervisors from liability for injuries to firefighters.

The West Virginia State Fireman’s Association says insurers are declining to provide broad form liability insurance coverage because of the possibility of lawsuits against supervisors. The WVSFA also says state courts tend ignore the immunity granted individual firefighters, who if they are the first at the scene of a fire automatically assume a supervisory role.

West Virginia law states that a firefighter or any employee injured in the line of duty can sue the department or its officers if the employer deliberately sent the employee into a dangerous situation. Individual employees or firefighters can’t be sued

BrickStreet Mutual Insurance which has been the sole writer of the coverage for volunteer departments is not renewing policies, according to the WVSFA. Effective Sept. 1, the group says 129 volunteer fire departments are slated to lose their liability insurance and more will lose it every month until all have lost it by June 30, 2011.

The group says other insurance carriers have also declined to write the coverage because of the possibility of lawsuits by injured firefighters.

The firefighters believe that a simple fix to state law can solve the problem but the committee appointed to come up with a fix has not been able to reach an agreement, with some members believing that state law already sufficiently protects individual firefighters.

“If it is the opinion of the state that we have immunity based on cases and interpretations, why not just put it in a statute to make it clear to all who face the question in the future? One sentence. That’s all we’re asking for. One sentence added to existing State Code could fix this,” the group stated.

The WVVFA said its members may not respond to fire alarms under the current liability situation.

“For many of us, this is a choice that forces us to choose our families and our homes over our service to our communities. No other public safety sector is faced with this liability. We don’t like making this decision but if we are not granted statutory immunity that is clear and direct, then, as of Sept. 1, 2010, many of our member departments have stated that they will be forced to stay at home when the alarm comes in,” the association said in a statement.

This is the second insurance issue to blindside the state’s volunteer firefighters. Several months ago, BrickStreet Mutual told the departments that it was going to substantially hike premiums the departments pay for workers compensation starting July 1. The departments balked and Gov. Joe Manchin stepped in to get the insurer to agree to hold off on increases to give the state time to work out a plan.

Topics Virginia West Virginia