The Seminole Firefighters Association (SFFA) Local 2581 released a statement in response to Seminole City Manager Steve Saxon’s comments in the Seminole Producer on Tuesday, June 9. The statement reads:

“The Seminole Firefighter’s Association members are offended by the recent comments of City Manager Steve Saxon in the Seminole Producer. On Friday, June 5, 2020 the Seminole Firefighter’s Association struck arbitration over contract negotiations. The negotiations with city officials reached a stalemate when our final proposal to add eight hours of vacation time per month for each employee was declined. Let us be clear, our contract negotiations have nothing to do with the staffing issue we have been posting about. We have NO political motive in this issue and look only to inform our community and those we serve. These comments were hurtful to say the least and we do not believe that these accusations made against us were warranted. The Seminole Firefighter’s look only to provide the best possible patient care, protect life, and preserve property. We believe that certain aspects of the daily operations of the fire department leave us vulnerable and such would not allow us to provide the level of care/service we believe our citizens deserve. It is our opinion that taking two interfacility transfers from Seminole Hospital to Oklahoma City at one time leaves our service area under protected. Doing this leaves only two personnel to cover 250 square miles of EMS service area and 140 square miles of Fire service area.

It is not our intention to purposely scare anyone. We are public servants at our core, and we want what is best for the public. However, if the truth about our staffing/manpower does scare you; that likely means it is an issue that needs to be addressed. We are members of this community and have family members who live within our service area. This puts us in the same situation as any concerned citizen.

We would like the public to know that prior to making any public posts on Facebook, the Seminole Firefighter’s Association did attempt to address our concerns through other routes. We have had numerous discussions with city officials regarding this issue.

The Seminole Firefighter’s want all who read this message to know, we want to be a partner with the City of Seminole and those in administration moving forward. We are committed to serving this community and look forward to working with city officials to nail down a plan that best serves all involved.”

Interim Fire Chief Fielding Lucas also clarified various protocols at the Seminole Fire Department (SFD).

“During the day Monday through Friday, the Fire Department has eight people on with the EMS Supervisor and Chief. That also gives the city four paramedics on duty at that time. Two transfers at a time are done leaving four guys still at the station ready to respond to any emergency that comes in,” Lucas said in a statement released to The Producer. “At nighttime in the occurrence of more than one transfer, the crews stagger them, so it minimizes the time of lower staffing. SFD also has a call back system and mutual aid system to help with any extra manpower needed.”

He also clarified that the social media posts in question were coming from the SFFA page and not the SFD page.

“The City of Seminole, Seminole Fire Department Facebook Page has not addressed any issues on social media,” said Lucas. “The Firefighters union has its own social media accounts under the Seminole Firefighters Association Local 2581. The union page is separate from the City of Seminole Fire Department Page.”

Lucas also addressed the staffing issues that were brought up by the SFFA in various Facebook posts.

“SFD has had an increase in call volume every year. Due to the increase in call volume, the SFD went from five guys a shift to six a shift in 2015 and added an EMS Supervisor in 2018. As Seminole grows and demand and call volumes grow, SFD will look at adding in the future to meet that demand as the budget allows,” said Lucas. “We never ignore calls. We have a great partnership with our hospital. Occasionally, the hospital may call another service to assist. This might happen one a month, twice at the most for EMS mutual aid. We also provide EMS mutual aid four to five times a month to surrounding EMS agencies.”

He also wanted to address the fears that some citizens have expressed due to issues brought up in some of the Facebook posts.

“Our number one interest is our citizens safety, and our citizens are safe. Seminole has some of the best trained, most diverse firefighter/medics around,” said Lucas. “We have a great system between our hospital, Mediflight, our medics and the ability to ‘call back’ our off-duty firefighters.”