State to Provide Liability Insurance for West Virginia Firefighters

The state agency that provides insurance for 160 state agencies will provide temporary liability coverage for West Virginia volunteer fire departments that are facing loss of coverage.

The state’s Board of Risk and Insurance Management (BRIM) will supply the insurance starting Sept. 1 and running until June 30, 2011, by which time state officials hope a private market solution can be found, Gov. Joe Manchin announced.

West Virginia has 426 full-volunteer fire departments, of which 281 have recently held broadform insurance policies with the recently privatized BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co., which has said it is losing money on the policies and will no longer write the coverage. The 281 volunteer fire houses were faced with losing their broadform coverage as of Sept 1.

Some volunteer firefighters had threatened to not answer alarms if they were not covered for liability. The West Virginia State Firemen’s Association also wants lawmakers to change state law to immunize all firefighters from any liability.

BrickStreet had agreed to extend its coverage from July 1, 2010, through Aug. 31, 2010, while a special task force chaired by Revenue Secretary Virgil T. Helton studies the issues.

“The 60-day extension from BrickStreet, while generous, did not allow us time to find a permanent solution,” Manchin said. “BRIM’s action is a temporary solution that will allow volunteer fire departments to receive continual broadform coverage while providing ample time for the task force to fully study the issues and find a permanent solution.”

In addition to providing casualty insurance coverage for all state agencies, BRIM operates an insurance program for boards of education, county commissions, cities and towns, other governmental entities and some non-profit organizations around the state. Currently, with the exception of the boards of education that are mandated to obtain coverage with BRIM, there are approximately 900 individual entities that voluntarily participate in this insurance program.

Topics Virginia West Virginia