Priest River Fire Department's status unclear

PRIEST RIVER — It wasn't the suggestive pictures on the lockers and it wasn't the personnel records left out in the open.

It wasn't even the rape charges against a Priest River Fire Department volunteer firefighter that lead to last month's shutdown of the department.

Instead, it was the combination — ongoing questions about the department, followed by the rape allegations — that forced the closure, according to city officials.

While the violations and the case aren't connected, city attorney Phil Robinson said the rape allegations forced the council to "put everything on hold" and hold an independent review to pinpoint what the problems were and how they could be fixed.

"It brought everything to a head," agreed Priest River Mayor Bill Mullaley. "We had to make a decision on what to do."

Byron W. Morgan, 29, of Priest River was arrested in late July on charges he raped a 16-year-old female junior firefighter volunteer after giving her a ride home from a meeting. Morgan pleaded innocent to the charges earlier this month and is free on $50,000 bond.

By that time, the council was growing increasingly frustrated over continued problems at the department, Robinson said.

Without ongoing frustrations about "a whole myriad of things" from maintenance of equipment to firefighter training to an upcoming review of the department's fire rating, Robsinson said the Morgan case would have been an isolated personnel matter involving one person.

Council members decided the best thing to do was to close the department and seek interim fire protection from nearby West Pend Oreille Fire District. A permanent decision on what may happen next could come when the council meets Monday.

At this point, there are three options facing the city — try and reopen the department, disband the department and seek a long-term contract with the West Pend Oreille Fire Department, or try to annex into the fire district.

"I would hate to see it go away," said Mullaley, who could be the deciding vote in the event of a tie. "I would like to see us reopen."

The review, which was completed in mid-August, found mostly minor violations and procedural problems, said Mullaley, who also is a 19-year volunteer with the department.

In the report, the Kootenai County Fire and Rescue assessment team said inappropriate pictures were seen in "clear view of anyone walking by the turnout lockers" — a violation of sexual harassment laws.

In addition, department incident reports and applications for the "junior firefighters" program were left out in the open, and training records failed to indicate the actual content and quality of training, according to the assessment team.

The review also found PRFD officials weren't using the Idaho State Reporting system on a consistent basis, which the Idaho State Fire Marshal's Office requires be done quarterly.

Records of hose and hydrant testing and apparatus maintenance records could not be found or were "nonexistent." In addition, investigators could not find records of previous fire safety inspections.

After equipment was inventoried, inspectors recommended several items for Idaho State Review Board review. These recommendations included hydrant testing records and history, fire pump tests and certifications plus test history, hose testing and history, and training records for firefighters.

While problems were found, they are fixable, the report said.

"In general, we found nothing that some good cleaning, organizing and minor repairs wouldn't resolve."