GEM COUNTY, Idaho β Two Gem County firefighters say they were removed from their positions without explanation right in the middle of wildfire season, raising questions about staffing during a critical time for fire protection.
Kevin Jaillett, who spent nearly 19 years as assistant chief, and Paul Anderson, a volunteer firefighter for seven years, say they were terminated from Gem County Fire District 2 after launching a nonprofit foundation to support local firefighting efforts.
Anderson explained the staffing challenges facing the rural fire district, which serves an area where most volunteers work in the Treasure Valley.
"I believe there's about 20," Anderson said when asked about department size.
"When you get a call, you know, depending on where they're at in the work week, maybe in Boise, you only have sometimes two, sometimes maybe four that show up," Anderson said.
"It's actually, it's mostly local volunteers, but most of our volunteers here work in the Treasure Valley. So if it's a Monday through Friday call, it's a pretty scarce response," Anderson said.
Jaillett said he initially approached county commissioners with a proposal to enhance the fire district's wildland capabilities, noting that the current department focuses primarily on structure fires.
The initial response from commissioners was positive when he met with them on July 23.
"Talked about it and they thought it was a good idea and they told me, 'Let's talk about this in detail at the next commissioners meeting,'" Jaillett said.
Anderson confirmed the commissioners' initial enthusiasm.
"Actually, I think Kevin went to them first, and explained that we needed more resources and more boots on the ground for wildland scene. And they seem very optimistic that that would be a possibility," Anderson said.
The firefighters say their troubles began weeks after launching the Firefighters of Gem County Foundation, a nonprofit they created to raise money for new wildfire trucks, gear, and training at no cost to taxpayers.
Learn more about these former firefighters and what's next.
"And that was part of why we started Firefighters for Gem County Foundation, was to add more boots on the ground and more resources and more, more funding to the small local departments out there. It seemed like a win-win for everybody," Anderson said.
The foundation operates independently from the fire district.
"It's all Paul and I and two other board members, our own efforts to try to do fundraising," Jaillett said.
Anderson explained their plan to work with the department: "We had made mention that we were, we were buying new trucks, new fire apparatuses, we were gonna lease them to the department. You know, at zero cost, just that they do the maintenance. It's kind of standard practice."
"We were only trying to give a better response for every fire emergency," Anderson said.
Both men say their removal began with brief phone calls placing them on administrative leave, followed by termination letters that provided no explanation for their dismissal.
Anderson described receiving the call on August 11 from Chief Jim Heikes.
"The call only lasted about a minute. He asked me if I could hear him. I responded, Yes, and then he said, OK, I'm letting you know that you've been put on administrative leave. You're under investigation," Anderson said.
When Anderson tried to get more information, he was cut off.
"I asked what the investigation was for⦠he said we're not gonna talk about it. I asked if I was gonna be interviewed for the investigation, and he said, 'I'm done here,' and he hung up on me. And I've never heard from him again," Anderson said.
"No, nobody's ever contacted me about an investigation," Anderson said when asked if anyone had followed up.
Jaillett had a similar experience.
"Myself too, I was hung up on when I asked the Chief why are we being put on administrative leave at that time, and he says, I'm hanging up now," Jaillett said.
The following Wednesday, both men attended a fire commissioner's meeting.
"So Kevin and I had attended that meeting and had hoped to get a little more explanation. They declined to comment anything about it. They just said they were gonna leave that for their executive session," Anderson said.
Anderson filed a complaint seeking an explanation, but received only formal termination letters.
"I had filed a complaint basically asking and hoping that I could get an explanation, in which I got a letter the following week saying that I was on administrative leave to be followed up by another letter, stating that I was terminated, but still, once again, without any explanation," Anderson said.
Jaillett described the hostile reception when they formally presented their foundation proposal.
"I was met with extreme hostility during the meeting. One of the commissioners said immediately, when it was done, we're going to table this for now, and we're not going to talk about it," Jaillett said.
The termination was particularly shocking given their years of service and clean records.
"Oh, I couldn't believe they did it to us. I mean, Paul's been here for 7 years. I've been there for 19 years, and we've done nothing but good. We've had a perfect record. We, we worked our butts off," Jaillett said.
Anderson emphasized they were terminated without justification.
"I was a volunteer firefighter that was terminated from a volunteer fire department without cause or reason," Anderson said.
"We were terminated without cause. Definitely without explanation. We just wanted to bring it to light. Transparency to see what's happening inside of their fire department," Anderson said.
Despite their terminations, the foundation has already demonstrated its value to the community. Anderson explained the motivation behind starting the organization.
"There's a group of us volunteers that wanna continue helping even after the call is over," Anderson said.
The organization recently held a fundraiser dinner for Bob and Shirley Mahoney after their home burned down in July.
"The house had burned down about a month ago, and we were able to do a big benefit dinner and raise them quite a bit of money to help them kind of relocate temporarily until they can get a new home," Anderson said.
Anderson said the event raised around $12,000 to help the couple rebuild.
He also acknowledged that going public with their story was a last resort.
"We weren't making any progress getting help any other direction. So that was our last hope... was to make the public knowledgeable about what was going on," Anderson said.
The public response has been mixed.
"I think there was responses on both sides trying to figure out what was going on and, and unfortunately, some see that when you're under investigation or been terminated from, government department, they just instantly assumed something had happened, and that's just not the case here," Anderson said.
The foundation has received positive community feedback and attracted potential new volunteers.
"We've got quite a few positive reviews. I think everyone understands, most people understand, that we're trying to do a good thing for the community. There's nothing sinister about trying to raise money for emergency services. There's no evil here whatsoever," Jaillett said.
Several younger individuals have expressed interest in joining their efforts.
"It's been real positive. We've got 6 or 8 people now, they're like, 'Heck yeah, we'd love to join this." They're able-bodied and more importantly, they're ambitious, they're willing to do it," Jaillett said.
Idaho News 6 reached out to Gem County Fire District 2 for comment on the terminations. The district responded with "No comment."
The former firefighters remain committed to their mission despite their removal from the fire district.
"Our goal is still the same, though. It's going to be to help the community, boots on the ground, neighbors helping neighbors," Anderson said.
Anderson said they are moving forward with equipment purchases.
"We're closing a purchase order for two new trucks right now, and we plan to, you know, assist the county in fires in the near future," Anderson said.
Jaillett emphasized their continued commitment: "The goal is to continue pushing on, you know, just because the commissioners don't think it's a good idea that we expand our wildland department, that doesn't mean that Paul and I think it's a bad idea, you know, we think every taxpayer out there deserves a job."
"We're still going to try to help our neighbors the best we can," Jaillett said.
The timing of their removal during wildfire season raises concerns about the district's capacity to respond to fires when resources are most needed, particularly given the staffing challenges Anderson described.
