GOODLAND, Kan.-- One Kansas fire department is faced with yet another controversy.
Last summer Goodland Fire Chief Scott Gilmer was found not guilty after being accused of stealing cigarettes from an accident he was working.
Most recently he was placed on a 30 day suspension for having alcohol on his breath during a call.
Now he refuses to step down, and 151 years of accumulated service is being lost.
The Goodland Fire Department is in a bit of a bind after all 12 volunteer firefighters resign.
Stan Duell is one of them.
"Being able to be there when people need emergency workers, and I've enjoyed it, I've enjoyed it for 26 years, it's been a passion of mine," Duell says.
But the past year has not been easy on the department.
Duell says "We're to the point we're we're afraid of our safety, afraid of decisions being made that that we don't feel safe, the fact that we have had to answer questions from the community because of actions of another person that has humiliated us enough it was just time."
But City Manager Wayne Hill says he is confident in Chief Scott Gilmer, and doesn't believe the volunteer firefighters have given him a chance to prove his leadership abilities.
Hill says "Because I've been around Scott being a full time person, I see him a lot volunteer firefighters only see him when they do training or on a scene I've seen him in action, I've seen what he does in the fire bay, I've seen what he does to he does to his office work."
Duell disagrees that's why the firefighters asked chief to Gilmer resign. When he didn't they put in their two weeks.
"What kind of decisions is he going to make under circumstances of fire calls or rescue calls that might endanger us or somebody us," Duell says.
Hill says "I know there are concerns out there and I'm concerned too but I'm trying to do everything I can to make sure we have a safe environment for my public."
The resignation is effective March 5th. The city has already started training new firefighters.
Scott Gilmer has been the Fire Chief for Goodland for less than year.
The training for the new volunteers started Thursday night.
There is a contingency plan with the county the rural fire department is on call to help when needed.
Republished with permission of KWCH-TV.
