The Yavapai County fire chief has lost his job after getting caught up in a long-running battle with the union that represents his firefighters. The department's executive committee voted narrowly Monday night to terminate the chief's contract.
The action comes about two weeks after Central Arizona Fire and Medical Association (CAFMA) United Yavapai Firefighters Local 3066 passed a vote of no confidence against Chief Scott Freitag. Members accused Freitag of creating a hostile work environment, falsifying public records and violating contractual agreements.
The union's president, Ben Roche, previously wrote to CAFMA's executive committee saying the vote reflected members' dissatisfaction with Freitag's “misleading, dishonest and disrespectful behavior on a range of issues.”
Roche added that the International Association of Fire Fighters held its 57th annual convention last month, where 2,520 delegates representing all 50 states and 350,000 members voted unanimously to censure Freytag.
In a letter he wrote with his lawyers and published in The Arizona Republic last week, Freitag categorically denied the allegations against him and said he hoped an outside investigation would clear his name.
“My record during my 11 years at CAFMA is clear and in no way reflects the allegations made against me,” Freitag wrote.
The board voted 3-2 in favor of firing Freitag, with board members Rick Anderson and Matt Zurcher voting against the firing.
CAFMA did not respond to a request for comment on the firings.
The organization announced that Deputy Director of Operations John Fedema will take over as interim director effective immediately.
“After 24 years of service to the organization, Chief Fedema is ready to lead his dedicated team and deliver on the promise of providing high quality fire and emergency medical services to the community,” the post read.
According to its website, CAFMA has 10 full-time and two reserve fire stations and serves 369 square miles of Yavapai County, including Chino Valley, Prescott Valley, Dewey-Humboldt and unincorporated areas such as Paulden and Williamson Valley Road.
Fedema will oversee the agency, which has 130 sworn paramedics among its 160 employees, according to its website.
Restoring morale and planning for the future
Don Jongeward, president of the Arizona Professional Firefighters Association, told The Republic that the vote to terminate Freitag's contract marks the end of a long-running feud between the chief and firefighters.
While Jongewaert considered the board's decision a victory, he said he would have preferred if Freitag had worked out some kind of settlement with the union from the start.
“I don't think anybody went there because they were excited about taking someone's job,” Jongeward says. “I think they went there because other avenues weren't working and they thought, 'OK, this is the place to go.'”
Jongewaert said he hopes Freitag's departure will allow CAFMA firefighters to breathe a little easier as they continue to serve the community, but that it will take time to boost their morale overall.
“I think the biggest thing is we need to boost morale in the department,” Jongeward said. “It didn't happen overnight. It didn't collapse overnight. It's been slowly eroding over the years.”
Jongewaert said a good start to fixing things would be to drop the investigation into three firefighters who were reprimanded and placed on administrative leave for comments they made at an off-duty union meeting that questioned some of the former chief's decisions.
Jongewaert said whoever his successor is will inherit a number of issues that went unresolved under Freytag, including firefighter staffing shortages that often meant CAFMA could only staff an engine with three firefighters instead of the standard four.
rejection:Prescott Valley firefighters pass a vote of no confidence in fire chief
Jongeward previously told The Republic that national standard is that if two firefighters enter a burning building, two others must wait outside to rescue if necessary, following the “two in, two out” rule cited by the National Fire Protection Association and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Other requests include improvements to fire stations to better protect firefighters from developing cancer, and the introduction of “48/96” work shifts, where firefighters work 48 hours on and off for four days.
Freitag creates sharp contrasts
In a phone interview Tuesday evening, Freitag again categorically denied the accusations made against him by Jongewaert and others.
Freytag accused Jongewaert of being a “corporate executive” throughout his career and said he lacked the knowledge needed to run a fire department, particularly a rural one that faces unique challenges in raising funds.
Asked about accusations of understaffing firefighters, Freitag said Jongewart was overstating the problem and that CAFMA has never had a problem with the “two in, two out” rule.
“It sounded like he was saying, 'Oh my god, this is terrible,'” Freitag said. “'They can't even respond safely.' That's not true. We didn't have any problems.”
Regarding the three firefighters under investigation, Freitag said they were legally limited in what they could say, but he denied any allegations that they had been retaliated against for voicing their dissent.
“Nobody's job is under threat,” Freitag said. “Nobody's promotion is under threat. Nobody's been called in to be interviewed about a union meeting. From our perspective, we just wanted to know, why? Why is everybody upset, and what information do we need to provide to answer your questions? Or is there something I'm particularly upset about and I need to sit in front of the group and have them ask me questions about it?”
As for his future plans, Freitag said he will take a few weeks to gather his thoughts, but he has no plans to return to firefighting.
“I've been in the emergency services for 31 years,” he said, “so I think it's time to do something different. I think I have enough qualifications and education and experience to offer in other fields, whether that be government relations or some kind of consulting.”
Freitag said he did not want the outcome of Monday's meeting to mark the end of this chapter in his career, but he will continue to root for the department and its future success.
“What I really want to say is I'm grateful for the community and I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve at CAFMA over the years and the people I got to serve alongside,” Freitag said. “I wish you all the best for the future. I'm sorry it had to end this way.”
