Prince William supervisors on Friday voted unanimously to dissolve the Gainesville District Volunteer Fire Department after a four-month internal audit revealed a number of deficiencies, and caused Fire and Rescue Chief Kevin McGee to say he has “lost confidence” in the department’s leadership. Supervisors deliberated in closed session for more than three hours before county auditor Robin Howard presented his official report to the public. Howard said Gainesville¹s volunteer fire department was uncooperative with the overall audit process, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the department’s internal controls were unsatisfactory. “We did not find any instances of fraud, but had there been fraud there, it would have been extremely [difficult] to detect,” Howard said.
Robert Zelnick, counsel for the volunteer fire department, argued that the county had not allowed sufficient time for department officers to review the audit so they could adequately respond.
Wanda Bird, treasurer for the fire department, argued that the investigation was not being conducted fairly.
“It just looks like there’s an agenda here,” she said.
Three former volunteer firefighters argued they were dismissed from the department by Chief Richard Bird for arbitrary or inappropriate reasons. Bird is married to the department’s treasurer, Wanda.
Former volunteer Elian Alby accused fire department board members of hiding information from its members during “executive sessions” that were held outside the bylaws of the department.
“The second anybody tries to speak up to make things better, they’re thrown out,” he said. “I’d seen it for years, and I wanted to get to the bottom of this.”
McGee, too, said he had been left in the dark.
“I have had no access to the internal operations of the company,” he said. Officials remained confident that Gainesville would have the infrastructure in place to properly fight fires.
McGee said he has been preparing a “contingency plan” so that the department will “continue to be able to provide service without interruption.”
He said staff will be redirected on an interim basis, and that there is a “90-day plan” to reach out to volunteer members who felt were wrongly suspended.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart pointed out that Station 4 on John Marshall Highway is already “overwhelmingly” staffed by career staff. There are 35 career staff assigned to the station, including a 24-hour medic unit and 24-hour heavy squad rescue unit, and 30 career staff assigned to station 24 on Antioch Road, including a 24-hour medic unit and 24-hour engine.
There are 51 active members listed on Gainesville’s volunteer duty crew roster.
Stewart also called for each company to perform a yearly management audit to avoid similar problems.
“They are literally individual companies ‹ corporations, even,” he said. “We need to take a look at the system to exercise better oversight.”
