To the Editor:
Our volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel are inadequately protected by the Maine Workmen’s Compensation (WC) law. The State allows the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) , the State’s largest WC carrier for our volunteers, to exclude coverage when responding to an emergency until they reach a main road.
Let’s take a closer look at how this may affect you as a volunteer Fire or EMS responder. It is 2:30 on an icy January morning when your pager goes off alerting you to respond to an emergency. You’re heading for your car when you fall on a patch of ice in your driveway injuring your leg and wrist. A report is filed with the Town and the WC carrier, MMA.
When the claim is filed you expect that your medical bills will be covered as will your loss of income as a volunteer firefighter injured on the job.
Shortly thereafter you receive a letter advising you that you may not be covered. The letter simply states “Workmen’s Compensation is coverage for employment hazards, not hazards that are associated with the employee’s household. Therefore coverage for volunteer firefighters begins when you enter a public highway in response to an emergency.” (See MMA website: “When does WC coverage begin and end? Maine Townsmen, p.14 July 2006)
Maine is the only state I can find that does not begin WC for its volunteer fire and EMS personnel when the tones announce the emergency. South Carolina’s Attorney General changed the WC law several years ago, citing that unlike other occupations, volunteer Firefighters and EMS personnel start work from home, job sites or wherever they happen to be when called to service, and therefore WC should begin at the sound of the alerting signal.
State Senator Chris Johnson has put forward a bill that would begin WC for all volunteer emergency personnel at the start of the emergency. It is legislation that has been discussed for years by the various Maine State Fire and EMS Associations. It is legislation whose time has come.
Thank you, Senator Johnson, for helping to correct a wrong and protecting those men and women emergency volunteers who stand ready 24/7 to help us all.
Stanley Lane, Westport Island
