Flanders Firefighters, EMTs await town action on benefits for firefighter's widow

FLANDERS, N.J. - March 4, 2015 - PRLog -- With about 75 firefighters, emergency medical technicians and police officers from various emergency agencies in Mount Olive and surrounding towns watching, the Mount Olive Township Council ordered its attorney to find a way to allow the council to pass a resolution that would allow a fire chief’s widow to end her four-year wait to apply for survivor’s benefits from the state.

“While we’re encouraged by the council’s words, we need to see deeds,” said Doug Fenichel, president of the Flanders Fire Company #1 and Rescue Squad. “Right now, it seems like we’re being held hostage by an insurance company that’s more worried about its bottom line than about Mount Olive residents’ safety.”

Nicole Shields is the widow of Assistant Fire Chief Tom Shields of the Flanders Fire Company #1 and Rescue Squad. Shields died in the line of duty in May 2011 after responding in 100-degree weather to a report of a child at Mountain View School who wasn’t breathing. The child was treated and has recovered.

Ms. Shields has been unable to apply for benefits from the state’s Volunteer Emergency-Worker’s Survivors Pension (VESP) program because the town won’t pass a resolution saying she’s entitled to the funds. The town has refused to pass that resolution because, it says, the township’s workers’ compensation carrier says it won’t defend and cover the town if it passes the resolution.

The confusing process has kept Ms. Shields, her son, Brandon, and another son from Chief Shields’ previous marriage from collecting any benefits from the workers’ compensation insurance, the state program or a federal program that also provides death benefits to families.

Speaking before the council Tuesday night, Ms. Shields simply repeated the facts of her husband’s death, acknowledged the ongoing legal dispute with the workers’ compensation carrier and asked for the council to pass the resolution to allow her to apply for state benefits.

“I hope that Mount Olive will do what’s right so we can set standards in case this ever happens again,” she told the council.

That’s when Township Attorney Fred Semrau explained why the town must follow the instructions from the workers’ comp carrier.

“If we don’t take the advice of the insurance carrier, than the liability becomes the town’s,” he told Ms. Shields.

“One has nothing to do with the other,” she replied, citing instances where other towns have passed VESP resolutions while the workers’ compensation cases continued.

Addressing the council in support of Ms. Shields, Fire Chief Michael McDermott said every firefighter knows about the “thin red line.”

“It means sometimes we come back from a call,” he said. “And sometimes we don’t. I ask a lot of our volunteers. The one thing I can offer is should they lose their life, there’s funding to support their families.”

Capt. Scott Faluotico, who handled the administrative details following Chief Shields’ death, told the council he had assumed if he died on the job, his family would be taken care of.

“I’ve been lied to for 25 years, 15 of them in this town,” said Faluotico.

Fenichel, president of Flanders’ fire and EMS organization, told council members that many members felt the way Faluotico does.

“Many of our first responders feel betrayed and wonder why, if their families aren’t going to be provided for, they should continue to respond,” he said. “As the president of fire company and rescue squad, what should I tell them?”

Fenichel and Faluotico also asked for an examination of the workers’ compensation insurance carrier’s actions, questioning why it continues to grasp at straws after four years.

Councilwoman Colleen Labow called on Semrau to find a way to enable the Town Council to pass the resolution.

“Four years is outrageous,” said Ms. Labow. “We have to move this along. Every time they leave their homes, they need to know they’ll be taken care of.”

Council members agreed to revisit the issue at the Council’s March 18 meeting.

“We’ll be there,” said Fenichel. “In the meantime, we’ll do what we can to help, but it’s time the township leaders stand up and do what they have to do help Nicole get the benefits Tom earned for her. In doing so, they’ll assure the rest of us that we’ll be taken care of.”

The Flanders Fire Company and Rescue Squad No. 1 provides fire protection and emergency medical services to residents and businesses in Flanders and, through mutual aid, surrounding towns. It is made up of about 45 members, all of whom receive training in fire suppression, rescue, hazardous materials response, homeland security issues and emergency medical services. The fire company operates two fire engines, one tower truck, one heavy rescue, a brush-and-foam truck, three ambulances, a multiple-casualty unit and a mass decontamination unit.

In addition, the fire company offers public education services including lectures, demonstrations, training and a trailer that safely simulates a smoke-filled home. For information about membership, donations or public education, call (973) 584-7805 or click on www.flandersfire.org.