Insurance Hikes for West Virginia Voluntary Fire Departments Delayed

Workers’ compensation premium increases for volunteer fire departments are being postponed for a year while lawmakers address firefighter safety and liability issues, Gov. Joe Manchin said.

Manchin said he hopes to have legislation ready for a July 19 special session.

BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. of Charleston had announced significant premium increases effective on July 1. But many volunteer fire departments indicated they couldn’t afford the increases and would have to shut down or cut back services.

“We cannot operate without our volunteer fire departments,” Manchin said. “We have one year to put all of this together, implement it and put it in place, not just talk about it and not be back here next June in 2011 figuring what are we going to do now.”

BrickStreet had planned to change the way it calculates premiums based on a firefighter’s average wage instead of a volunteer’s regular job. President and CEO Greg Burton said Brickstreet now will cover volunteer fire departments at the current rates until July 1, 2011.

“There was an outcry for us to reconsider,” Burton said. “We must reiterate this situation needs a long-term solution.”

Tom Miller with the Sissonville Fire Department called the decision a “significant step for fire service in the state of West Virginia.

“We appreciate the cooperation and the concessions made by Brickstreet and we realize this is market-driven,” he said.

BrickStreet is the sole provider of workers’ comp insurance for government agencies until July 1, when the market will open to competition.

There have been at least six volunteer firefighter deaths in the past three years, including one who died last month after initially surviving a deadly propane tank explosion in Ghent in January 2007. Two other volunteer firefighters died in the explosion.

In Feb. 2009, two firefighters died fighting a mobile home fire in Nicholas County. Investigators say they apparently didn’t hear alerts to evacuate when the water supply ran low.

In March, a Kanawha County firefighter was swept away while attempting a water rescue during flooding in Raleigh County.

“We have to take a look at where our injuries and line-of-duty deaths come from and take proactive steps to help decrease those numbers,” Miller said.