Brazos Canyon Volunteer Fire Chief T.J. Allard was re-elected Feb. 21 in the wake of a wave of resignations by volunteers unhappy with having a chief who lives out of town and rarely responds to emergencies.
Allard lives in Albuquerque but owns property in Brazos Canyon. Department records show that he was present for only three of 21 emergency responses undertaken by the Department in 2008.
Allard said Department bylaws require all active members to participate in 35 percent of responses for which they are in the area and able to respond, and that members are not faulted for missing calls when they’re not in the area.
“People don’t realize that being chief is much more than fighting fires,” Allard said, citing paperwork and other work that can be accomplished from Albuquerque.
Allard was first elected fire chief a year ago, just days before the Brazos Canyon Fire Station blew up in February 2008. The explosion killed former chief Michael Hayes and destroyed the fire station.
Since last summer, 18 full-time firefighters have resigned from the Department, former Brazos firefighter Randy Bevis said. Allard attributed the resignations to volunteers’ dissatisfaction with his handling of their interpersonal disputes.
But those who resigned rejected that assessment. Allard’s full-time job as a Sandia National Laboratory engineer is at the heart of the dispute, Bevis and former firefighter Linda Irvin said and several former volunteers’ resignation letters stated.
“The Department’s primary mission of responding to 911 calls is better served by members who are full-time residents of our fire district,” Bevis said. “What would happen if (a house burned down and) a jury saw these (response) rates?”
But by resigning, those who were dissatisfied with Allard’s management denied themselves the opportunity to replace him in the Feb. 21 Department elections.
“After the resignations of 18 full-time residents in the last six months, the votes (Feb. 18) were 12 to 0,” Bevis said.
Bevis resigned Feb. 18 after his wife Carol, a wilderness first responder who had previously resigned from the Department, was rebuffed in her effort to rejoin the Department just before the elections.
Carol Bevis was just one of five former Department volunteers who had applied to rejoin the Department in time for the elections.
Allard argued that even if they were allowed to rejoin, they would be probationary members without voting rights in the Department election.