Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A dispute between career firefighters and volunteers in Loudoun County, Virginia back in 2011 is now at the center of a lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of a man who died when it took crews 27 minutes to arrive at his house.
Nathan Smith suffered a heart attack in the early morning hours of July 14, 2011. Career personnel from the county who had been assigned to the closest fire station, the Middleburg Volunteer Fire Department, had been removed the day before and several volunteers had been suspended following an altercation.
The lawsuit alleges that the first crew to arrive at Smith’s home was from the Aldie Volunteer Fire Department, seven miles east of Middleburg. The Aldie crew arrived at 4:58 a.m., some 27 minutes after the initial 911 call was made at 4:31 am.
Smith died and his family alleges that response delay associated with the station being unmanned was the proximate cause of his death. The suit alleges negligence, gross negligence and wrongful death, and names the Middleburg Volunteer Fire Department, MVFD president John Brad Draisey, and Loudoun County Fire-Rescue’s Fire Chief W. Keith Brower.
According to the suit, following the altercation on July 13, 2011 at the Middleburg station, Chief Brower ordered the career personnel removed from the station, and President Draisey suspended five volunteer firefighters who were at the station.
The suit claims that "Had MVFD been sufficiently staffed on July 14, 2011, emergency personnel could have reached Mr. Smith within an adequate response time, treated the hypertensive cardiovascular disease, and prevented cardiac arrest before it led to his untimely death."
The suit claims damages of $3 million on each of none counts, and additional $3 million in punitive damages.
