Truce reached in spat between Victoria firefighters and Town Hall

Fire Chief Parsons says he may run for mayor in the fall election

Victoria Mayor Barry Dooley, right, argues with Kathy Parsons, left, mother of Fire Chief Justin Parsons, as a crowd watches outside the Fire Hall Tuesday, June 24. Olivia Bradbury photo

By Olivia Bradbury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A truce has been reached between a group of Victoria volunteer firefighters and the town council with Municipal Affairs Minister Paul Pike acting as the peacemaker.

The resumption of fire protection services was announced by the fire department Friday evening in a facebook post. The message said the fire department had resumed fire protection services as of 3 p.m., and that it would continue working with Municipal Affairs officials and Victoria Mayor Barry Dooley in the coming weeks to resolve its issues with council.

The dispute erupted Monday with a note by the department on its facebook page, inviting the public to a meeting outside the fire hall the next day to hear “an unfortunate announcement.” On Tuesday afternoon, a crowd of firefighters their family supporters, and concerned residents watched the department’s chief, Justin Parsons, lay a box of pagers on the ground before Victoria Mayor Barry Dooley, signifying that nearly all the firefighters in the department were resigning.

According to Parsons, the department has long been dissatisfied with the behaviour of the town council, citing a recent incident involving himself as the final straw. Following the Adam’s Cove fire, Parsons said, he went to the local heritage building to look at the old fire pump inside and determine whether it could be used in an emergency. The fire department has a key to the heritage building for the past 11 years, Parsons added. However, when he tried to unlock the door, Parsons said, the key snapped off inside the lock, so he went and bought a new lock and key, returned to the heritage building, and cut off the broken lock. After checking the pump, Parsons said, he put the new lock on and informing a member of the Victoria Heritage Society (VHS) of what had happened.

Sometime later, Parsons said, he received a call from Town Clerk-Manager Shelly Butt. According to Parsons, she told him the Heritage Society was displeased about him removing the lock. He told her that anyone concerned could contact himself or the society member for an explanation of what happened. However, Parsons said, he was eventually sent a letter from Butt, telling him the incident was discussed at the most recent council meeting, where, he maintained, his actions were depicted as breaking and entering.

“It was unanimously agreed that your personal actions are viewed as a very serious offense,” Butt wrote. She added council had agreed with the Heritage Society’s request of, at minimum, an in-person apology from Parsons. “Should you not agree with the expectation set forth, other action will be taken to address this misconduct,” wrote Butt.

In response, Parsons called the public meeting in front of the Fire Hall where he and other members announced their resignations.

Parsons said he is passionate about the fire service, but the treatment of the firefighters by council has been detrimental to his mental health. Most of his fellow firefighters resigned along with Parsons, laying a box containing their pagers literally at the feet of Mayor Barry Dooley during Tuesday’s demonstration outside the Fire Hall.
After receiving the pagers, Dooley went to the front of the station to address the crowd. He accused the firefighters of deserting their community. The crowd contested this, accusing the council of having put the firefighters in that position.

Resident and former councillor Jennifer Dawe, who attended the demonstration in support of the firefighters, pointed out they are volunteers.

Another person in the crowd accused the mayor of having called the fire chief a “cult leader” during a phone call with the deputy chief regarding the planned walkout.

Dooley said he had spoken to the fire chiefs of Carbonear and Salmon Cove and was told Parsons had asked their departments not to provide fire protection services to Victoria.

That led to one of the firefighters contacting Carbonear Fire Chief Trevor Crawford, who later arrived and confronted Dooley. Crawford insisted he had not said anything of the sort. Dooley apologized, but maintained the Salmon Cove fire chief had said Parsons asked him not to provide service to Victoria.

The day after the demonstration in Victoria, the Salmon Cove-Perrys Cove Fire Department announced on its Facebook page that it would respond to all calls for assistance in Victoria until further notice.

Meanwhile, back at the demonstration, some people in the crowd questioned the logic behind the accusation against Parsons, demanding to know how he could have been breaking and entering when he had a key to the building.

Dooley said Parsons was not being accused of breaking and entering, leaving the crowd to question what, in that case, he was being asked to apologize for.

Jessica Parsons, the chief’s wife, accused the town council and Heritage Society of misusing legal terminology, citing use of the term “misconduct.” Some of the demonstrators demanded to know what “other action” would have been taken if Parsons didn’t apologize.

Dooley confessed he did not know, prompting some of those present to criticize him for approving the letter when he did not know all the details.

Several people demanded to know why the Town Clerk-Manager was not present, with some asking where the “real mayor” was.

Parsons said Butt’s position as the Town Clerk/Manager gives her too much power.

“There’s no oversight,” said Parsons. “There’s only one person up there. If something happens to her, this town is screwed… She’s running all the jobs. She took it all over. And they think that they’re doing a good job by saving people money, but it’s actually horrible. Because you can’t have one person dictate. This is a regime.”

Parsons said he would consider retracting his resignation if someone from the provincial government came in to “help us out.”

Under the new Towns and Local Service Districts Act, Parsons said, municipalities have full control over their local fire departments.

“There’s no union to protect us. There’s no nothing,” said Parsons. “The fire commissioner won’t get involved. Municipal Affairs wouldn’t get involved. I already called them.”

Parsons said he intends to hire a lawyer. “There’s got to be more oversight. There’s got to be some kind of ombudsman or somebody we can go to to help us out, to mediate this stuff,” he said. “They don’t understand our role, and they don’t want to understand our role. They think we’re still a bunch of fellows who just get together and go to the Santa Claus parade and show up to a scattered fire. They don’t care about one bit of training or anything that goes on. That’s the only way I’m going to go back.”

Parsons admitted he is considering running for mayor. He criticized the way Mayor Dooley handled the firefighters’ announcement, which involved a debate with the demonstrators.

“For the mayor to let this go on here is absolutely ridiculous,” Parsons said. “The mayor knew by coming here today that it was going to be what it is,” Parsons said. “This is a disgrace. I didn’t want none of this. The mayor was better off not to show up here today. He was better off to let our people have their discussion, everybody leave, and the Town put out a statement. But this is how foolish these people are.”