Fire Chief opening for the city of Casa Grande! Looking for qualified applicants. Applications close soon don’t miss this opportunity
Critical Incident Update: It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of a Phoenix Police Department Commander.
Greg Carnicle was shot in the line of duty on Sunday March 29 on the scene of a domestic violence call. Two other officers were also shot during the incident at 40th Drive and Pinnacle Peak. The two officers are expected to recover.
Commander Carnicle was a 31-year veteran of the force, and was just months away from retiring. During his distinguished career, he held positions throughout the department including the special assignments unit, K9 and he most recently oversaw all evening and weekend patrol operations.
Rest In Peace Commander Carnicle.
#ShoutoutSaturday
We are blown away by the kindness & generosity of our community! Thank you The Home Depot for donating gloves, masks, water, paper towels and a few other things to help us! We we are in this together. We feel your support #CasaGrande & we will continue to do everything we can to keep you safe! #StaySafe
#ServingOurCommunity
Insurance company backtracks after saying it won't cover job-related COVID-19 for AZ firefighters
Insurance company backtracks after saying it won't cover job-related COVID-19 for AZ firefighters
www.azfamily.com
The fire chief said it's great if the company has changed its tune, but the departments need to officially be notified by 7710.DISGRACEFUL: First workers comp insurance companies screwed firefighters and cops who get cancer in the line of duty.
Now it's COVID-19.
7710, the only workers comp insurer now available for fire districts, has told districts "they will not cover our personnel who are exposed and contract COVID 19 while serving during the pandemic," according to Scott Freitag, president of the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association.
Here's the text of Chief Freitag's 3/23/20 letter to Arizona legislators:
March 23, 2020
Arizona State Legislators
1700 W Washington St
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Dear Members of the Arizona State Legislature,
On Friday, March 20, 2020, the Arizona State Legislature received a note from Marcus Osborne representing the workers compensation company 7710. With Copperpoint’s sudden departure from the market, 7710 is currently the only workers compensation option for Fire Districts in the state besides the high risk pool.
In the message, Mr. Osborne indicated that they will freeze rates for next year, if you will ensure that SB 1160 does not move forward and if you vote against appropriations for a fire district risk pool. In his correspondence dated March 20th, he states that 7710 had reached out to Fire Districts to let them know 7710 would freeze the rates. That is a false statement. As of late Friday afternoon, neither our agency nor others who currently utilize 7710 had been notified of their intentions.
While the frozen rates sound appealing, the reality is that we are not receiving an appropriate level of service from their company. As an example, leadership of 7710 has told both CAFMA and Arizona Fire and Medical Authority that they will not cover our personnel who are exposed and contract COVID 19 while serving during the pandemic. Their testimony in committees during this session seemed to signal they do not plan to cover firefighter cancers based on the current presumptive laws either.
Ultimately, 7710 has proven to us at CAFMA that they are not committed to providing quality service to our agency or our personnel. We fully believe we can provide a higher quality of service more efficiently under a workers compensation risk pool modeled after the school district pool, county risk pool, and the municipal risk pool. Mr. Osborne provided you some numbers in his Friday correspondence that would make it seem the risk pool for fire districts is reckless. We are working with a third party administrator (TPA) who helped us establish the framework of the pool in 2017 which was approved by the Industrial Commission, and the Arizona Department of Insurance. I do not think those agencies would approve a pool they believed would be insolvent from inception. The TPA we are working with has a long and successful history of running some of the largest pools in the State of Arizona.
In closing, 7710 has been less than forthright with you as our state legislators and with us as their clients. The numbers they’ve provided you lack any supporting data and they seem to change their estimates depending on their audience. Additionally, they are not providing the coverage our firefighters/paramedics deserve especially as they are on the frontlines of the COVID 19 Pandemic. We need an option as our responders deserve better.
Respectfully,
Scott A Freitag
Scott A. Freitag
Fire Chief
President of the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association
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