MARYLAND BRIEFING

-- Nancy Trejos

PRINCE GEORGE'S

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Firefighter Measure Dies

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A Prince George's County Council committee rejected a measure yesterday that would have limited the fire chief's power to discipline volunteer firefighters.

The proposal, known as the Firefighter Bill of Rights, would have given volunteer chiefs sole authority to discipline volunteers, said James Brinkley, president of the Prince George's County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association, IAFF Local 1619.

Brinkley said the proposal was patterned after a bill introduced a decade ago that died in the council's Public Safety and Fiscal Management Committee. The new proposal was submitted by council member Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Bowie) after he was approached by career and volunteer firefighters interested in legislation "that would have afforded our members certain protections during interrogations, investigations and the administering of the disciplinary process," Brinkley said.

The measure began to lose support when the volunteer and career firefighters were unable to agree on language.

Some volunteers said the current fire chief, Lawrence H. Sedgwick Jr., has been heavy-handed in disciplining volunteers. Sedgwick, through a spokesman, refused to comment. Some career firefighters said removing the chief from the disciplinary process for volunteers would result in lax discipline.

-- Avis Thomas-Lester