If a local fire department's ability to respond to calls is compromised by office politics, then the alarm is coming from inside the firehouse. Sandisfield's leaders need to straighten out the problems undermining a critical municipal service before this controversy turns from embarrassing to life-threatening.

At a July 14 Select Board meeting, the town's new Fire Chief Michael Grillo claimed that former chief Ralph Morrison is hamstringing his efforts to lead the department. According to Chief Grillo, his predecessor has sought to smear him on social media as well as maintain influence over the department. Chief Grillo claims that Ralph Morrison's brother Michael Morrison, the town's police chief, is also participating in this effort against him.

This is not the first time in recent memory that controversy has surrounded the Morrison brothers' prominent roles in the town's public safety system. Ralph Morrison resigned as fire chief in 2023 after a serious accident involving a tanker truck with faulty brakes that had failed inspection. Michael Morrison, who was serving as deputy fire chief under his brother at the time, was driving the truck when it crashed.

This isn't the only small town where whisper campaigns and personal disputes prove disruptive to public business. But in Sandisfield, the picture is further complicated by the unique arrangement under which the fire department operates. The town has a public, volunteer fire department run by a chief who is a municipal employee hired by the Select Board. However, a private nonprofit - Sandisfield Fire Department Inc. - acts as the fundraising arm of the fire department and owns the town's two firehouses. The nonprofit's president and director are, respectively, Ralph and Michael Morrison.

This arrangement obviously grants outsize influence to the former fire chief, who resigned from the fire department under scrutiny, and his brother, who is currently on paid administrative leave from his police chief role while an independent investigation reviews a whistleblower complaint. According to Chief Grillo, that influence is being used in a malign manner against him, up to and including direct interference with department operations. The chief claims that the fire department could not respond to three emergency calls (all of which went to mutual aid) because the Morrison brothers convinced some volunteer firefighters not to respond. On top of those three missed calls, Chief Grillo also said he responded to seven additional calls alone because of rank-and-file resistance to his leadership that he believes was inflamed by the Morrisons.

Additionally, Chief Grillo said he was restricted from acquiring office space at either of the town's firehouses. If true, this petty and nonsensical protocol exemplifies the pitfalls of Sandisfield's status quo. While SFDI owns the firehouses, presumably the town is leasing them with the understanding that their primary function is to serve public firefighting operations rather than the nonprofit leaders' personal whims. It therefore makes no sense, ethically or legally, for the SDFI to be able to restrict the town's fire chief from maintaining office space in the town's firehouses.

Yet Chief Grillo is not the first to encounter such a roadblock. Henry Fristik, who was hired as fire chief last year, said he too was told he could not use office space at the town's firehouses. He also echoed Chief Grillo's claims about interference from SFDI's leaders. Half a year after he was hired, Mr. Fristik wrote the following in his resignation letter: "Unfortunately, due to the ongoing issues between the town and SFDI, it has made the atmosphere toxic, hostile [and] unsafe to work in. I firmly believe that the timing of hiring a chief was premature and these issues should have been resolved prior to the position being filled."

Of course there are two sides to every story, and Michael Morrison for his part has denied Mr. Fristik's allegations. At this point, however, Sandisfield has had two fire chiefs in a row profess not just frustration but alarm with how their public service is circumscribed by the nonprofit central to the Fire Department's operations and the influential community voices behind it. Indeed, it is alarming when a fire department's internal affairs disrupt its primary function of responding to calls for help from local residents who might be in deadly danger. If the Morrisons want to convincingly rebut the concerning allegations that they're undermining or even sabotaging the fire chief's crucial role, they could start by living up to the responsibility of the influence they clearly wield over the department. A good start would be publicly stressing that ignoring emergency calls is not an acceptable way to resolve disputes.

Recently, Chief Grillo brought on some new firefighters. That's a good step to shore up the ranks and hopefully prevent any more no-shows when the Fire Department is called upon in emergencies. However, it seems that Mr. Fristik was right in his diagnosis of unresolved personnel and structural issues that threaten the Sandisfield Fire Department's ability to perform its critical duties. Those issues have to be addressed if the town is to give both the new chief and the new volunteer firefighters the best shot at success.