Terrible fire department situation handled expertly in Virginia
After convicted sex offender found hanging around fire company, officials chose transparency
The Palmyra Volunteer Fire Company in Central Virginia is back operating following a brief suspension over a convicted sex offender’s connection to the fire company. That person has been identified in a statement as Sammie Gene Morris. Morris apparently was not a member but had been hanging around the firehouse and various incidents over the last six months and possibly for as long as a year. The details are in the statements below.
I have no inside information or knowledge of why this ugly situation went on for so long, but what I have seen over the past few days is an excellent example of an agency handling some very bad news.
It appears the Fluvanna County Volunteer Fire Department and its chief, Andrew Pullen, took decisive action and let the public know about it. The best I can tell is they told on themselves, releasing a very detailed statement before the bad news made news on its own. Doing so provides a much better look than a reporter or news organization saying they discovered the problem. It improves the chances of an organization having some control of the narrative. It’s also the right thing to do for the people they serve.
Friday’s statement said that Palmyra’s members have been suspended and the fire company closed. It explained what went wrong, the immediate action taken, a safety alert to the public, and a commitment to prevent this from happening in the future. From my perspective, it’s a perfect response to this type of bad news. It’s what we teach at PIO Academy.
Chief Pullen closed his statement with a very strong message to the community:
This incident reflects a concerning normalization of deviance within the organization. Leadership must be held to the highest standards, and failure to exercise sound judgment within the firehouse raises serious concerns about decision-making during emergency incidents, where lives and property are at stake. We are committed to resolving the situation swiftly and with full transparency as investigations move forward.
The Palmyra Volunteer Fire Company also posted the statement on its Facebook page. It then posted a follow-up statement on Saturday about the fire company again responding to calls. That statement explained that personnel and administrative changes were made. It also explained the reason the problem occurred is that “established administrative policies” were not followed and that there was a “culture of complacency”. The statement promises a third-party independent investigation with the findings made available to the public.
Here are the two statements:
