The Laker/Lutz News

Pasco County Fire Rescue

Zephyrhills poised to name Spillman permanent fire chief

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Four months after being named the interim fire chief, the Zephyrhills City Council is set on Monday to make Daniel Spillman’s job at the head of the city’s fire rescue department permanent.

Spillman took over the department in June when Verne Riggall — under fire for how he had run the agency over a two-year period — resigned before city council members could vote on whether to terminate him.

Spillman interviewed for the permanent position Sept. 22, and competed against Capt. Ralph Velez and former Pasco County fire service officer Stephen Smith for the job, according to city documents. The three made their bids for the job in front of a selection committee that included Zephyrhills city manager Steve Spina, city human resources director Sandra Amerson, former fire captain Scott Winters, and Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce executive director Vonnie Mikkelsen.

Velez has been a captain with the fire department for more than seven years, according to an online social media profile, and also has served on the board of Main Street Zephyrhills Inc. between 2005 and 2011. Velez has spent 24 years total with the Zephyrhills fire department, according to published reports, and graduated from Zephyrhills High School in the early 1980s.

Smith spent six years as a training chief for Pasco County Fire Rescue, according to an online business profile, and retired from that job in 2010. He’s currently a charge paramedic and trainer in Manatee County, and has consulted with and worked as an expert legal witness for EDT Corp., for nearly 25 years.

Spillman joined the Zephyrhills fire department in September 2013 after spending more than a year as a fire chief in Escambia County. He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida International University, and a master’s degree from City University in Bellevue, Washington, according to his resume.

As city manager, Spina has the power to appoint and even remove the chiefs of both the fire and police department, as long as he has a simple majority approval from the city council.

Riggall worked in High Springs as the fire chief the same time now former Zephyrhills city manager Jim Drumm led that city’s administration. Drumm resigned his job in Zephyrhills less than two months before Riggall after realizing he didn’t have the council’s support to continue as city manager.

Before he left, however, Drumm already had considered investigating issues in the fire department under Riggall. Spina continued the investigation after he took over as interim city manager, and said there were problems in how Riggall staffed fire engines and emergency response vehicles. Some of the staffing records also showed there were not enough workers on hand to safely respond to necessary calls, Spina said, and even they didn’t have all the appropriate equipment they would need.

The fire department was suffering from low morale, as well, and Riggall reportedly did not keep regular office hours, Spina’s report at the time said. Instead showing up at non-traditional times so that he could work around his wife’s schedule.

The city council will make the final decision during its regular meeting Oct. 13 at 6 p.m., at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.

Sheriff’s sergeant helps send two ambulances to Guyana

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Guyana Development Mission International, an international relief organization created by Pasco County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Mike Mielke, will receive two refurbished ambulances formerly owned by TransCare Medical Transportation to help provide critical emergency medical services to the people of Guyana.

TransCare is donating two ambulances to Guyana in South America thanks to the help of efforts like, from left, Pasco County Sheriff's Office major John Corbin, Sgt. Mike Mielke, and TransCare vice president Terence Ramotar. (Courtesy of Crisis Center of Tampa Bay)
TransCare is donating two ambulances to Guyana in South America thanks to the help of efforts like, from left, Pasco County Sheriff’s Office major John Corbin, Sgt. Mike Mielke, and TransCare vice president Terence Ramotar. (Courtesy of Crisis Center of Tampa Bay)

The ambulances have been stocked with critical medical supplies and mechanical replacement parts with the help of Pasco County Fire Rescue, the sheriff’s office, Wilderness Lake Church, Crockett’s Towing and Scaife Enterprises. They will be used through two hospitals in Georgetown.

Ambulances with more than 300,000 miles can no longer be used for medical transportation in Hillsborough County, and have minimal resale value, according to a release.

This latest effort was made possible by Terence Ramotar, vice president of TransCare, whose parents immigrated to the United States from the small coastal nation. His connection to Mielke was practically coincidence for the time his organization was looking for ambulances to help the country.

“It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time,” said Ramotar, in a release. “The two vehicles had recently come to the end of their service life, and we met Sgt. Mielke at the same time. I’ve traveled to Guyana and have seen the need first-hand. These vehicles have saved lives in the Tampa Bay area. It’s great to know they’ll now be used to save lives in Guyana.

TransCare is a division of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, a not-for-profit organization that responds to 183,000 requests for help each year.

Guyana, with a population of a little more than 750,000, is located in the northern part of South America, with Georgetown its largest city at 235,000 people. Life expectancy in Guyana is a little older than 70 years, compared to nearly 80 in the United States. That ranks it 126th in the world, with one of the leading causes of death in the country being malaria.

Pasco Fire Rescue focuses on training this week

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Beginning Sunday, Pasco County Fire Rescue will participate in the 2014 International Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week, which aims to improve firefighter safety and health, and give all a better chance of survival during emergencies.

The week is a joint initiative of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Volunteer Fire Council. During the week, fire departments around the world will take time to increase awareness and action so that safety and health become a priority in all fire departments.

“We fully value the important of pausing for a moment to reflect on the importance of firefighter safety and health issues,” Fire Chief Scott Cassin said, in a release.

This year’s theme is “Train Like You Fight,” focusing on a critical component of firefighter and emergency medical responder safety: training. This focuses on safety on the training ground and reduction of training-related injuries and death, and the importance of adequate training to prepare for safe, fire-ground operations.

Pasco County Fire Rescue provides critical, life-saving services, and must be ready to respond to all types of emergency and disasters, county officials said. The department is made up of 473 career personnel, and just over 200 volunteers that protect nearly 500,000 people in an area of 747 square miles.

Nationwide, 81,000 firefighters are injured each year, and it re-enforces the need for each responded to be prepared in every way when an emergency call comes in.

For more information on what Pasco County Fire Rescue is doing to improve its operations, call Andrew Fossa at (813) 929-2750, or email him at .