3 St. Elmo-Irvington volunteer firefighters quit during district board meeting
IRVINGTON, Ala. (WKRG) — Three St Elmo-Irvington volunteer firefighters, including the Assistant Chief, returned their gear and quit during a district board meeting Monday night.
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“The way you are doing this man is wrong and I don’t want to be nothing part of it,” Assistant Chief Brandon McClain said.
The district board meeting was called into session to vote on the termination of the acting St Elmo-Irvington Fire Chief, John Carpenter.
Carpenter has only been acting Chief for a few months, but on Wednesday he was placed on medical leave after having a heart attack.
During Monday’s meeting, the board revealed a list of other reasons why they wish to terminate him. That includes accusations of Carpenter not reporting minor damages to the fire trucks, improper usage of the Chief truck, higher gas bills within the department, and urinating behind a firetruck at the racetracks.
Carpenter and the rest of the fire department rebutted each of these accusations. Carpenter claims that he repaired the firetrucks using money from his own pockets as the trucks are still operatable. He claims that he only used the Chief truck within the district in case of a call.
Carpenter claims that the higher gas bills throughout the department stem from an increase in calls.
When the Board President brought up the accusation of Carpenter urinating behind a firetruck the room lifted in uproar claiming that every firefighter has done this before. The board argued that a leader should not be acting in that behavior.
Those attending the meeting who were not on the board were all in favor of the Chief.
“Quite comical, definitely not warranting to get rid of our fire chief that’s for sure,” former volunteer firefighter, Shannon Wiggins said.
After nearly two hours of arguing, the board decided to end the meeting and reconsider the termination in a private meeting between the board.
The three volunteers who quit tell News 5 that they will rejoin the Volunteer Department if Chief Carpenter is voted to stay.
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The St. Elmo Volunteer Department only has eight members.
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