From Fire Chief to Firehouse Legal Advocate
After three decades serving his community as a firefighter and paramedic, Carl Scarborough built a law practice dedicated exclusively to the fire and EMS community. In this recent feature by VoyageKC, Carl shares how his experience on the front lines shaped his legal career, the challenges of starting a niche practice, and why representing “one […]
What Happens When Your District Forgets an Election?
How to salvage an election process and stay on track… What happens when a fire district forgets to post its required filing notices for an election, or worse yet, forget about the election altogether and fails to notify the election authority until after the filing period is closed? The options in this situation aren’t great, […]
EMS BRIEF: TERMINATING EFFORTS BASED ON DNR or MEDICAL DPOA
WORDS MATTER *Firehouse Legal blog posts provide information only, and are not legal advice. For specific legal advice contact your attorney. No seriously, contact them, they’ll be happy to hear from you.* The decision to terminate resuscitative efforts in the field is never an easy one. When you couple the emotionally charged atmosphere of a […]
Filling Vacancies on a Fire District Board
It Can Be More Complex Than You Expect *Firehouse Legal blog posts provide information only, and are not legal advice. For specific legal advice contact your attorney. No seriously, contact them, they’ll be happy to hear from you.* Vacancies on a Board of Directors between elections happen frequently. The terms are long (6 years), and […]
ARE FELONS PROHIBITED FROM VOLUNTEERING AS FIREFIGHTERS IN MISSOURI UNDER RSMO 561.021?
Laws, in general, do not remotely resemble “plain english” and are therefore very difficult to navigate. While individual laws may be intended to “stand alone” and address a specific concern, the courts have pretty uniformly stated that everything must be taken in context–so if the legislature passes laws that contradict each other then we must find a way […]
See you in Columbia, Missouri this weekend!
Looking forward to teaching the “Fire Chief’s Legal Tool Kit: Sunday only at Winter Fire School, in addition to working with Chief Brian Schaeffer and Asst. Chief Sam Persell to present “Surviving the Realities of Leading” on Saturday. Looking forward to another great MUFRTI event!
MISSOURI PROVIDES AVENUE FOR FIREFIGHTER CANCER COVERAGE VIA CRITICAL ILLNESS TRUST
After many years of work at the State legislative level, and several unsuccessful attempts at a presumptive cancer coverage law, in 2021 the Missouri Fire Service Alliance was able to guide passage of Senate Bill 45, enabling creation of a fire fighter’s cancer benefits pool in the state. Among other provisions, the law allowed for […]
THE FIRE CHIEF’S LEGAL TOOLKIT SERIES: THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) PART 3-The Fire Fighter Schedule and Hours Worked”.
*Firehouse Legal blog posts provide information only and are not legal advice. For specific legal advice contact your attorney. No seriously, contact them, they’ll be happy to hear from you.* In prior blogs I’ve discussed the application of FLSA rules to the fire service, and how to determine whether or not the specific hours worked […]
JOIN ME AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY DIVISION OF THE IAFC JULY 12-15, 2022
ON FRIDAY, JULY 15 I’LL BE PRESENTING ANOTHER SESSION OF “THE FIRE CHIEF’S LEGAL TOOLBOX” REGISTER HERE FOR THE CONFERENCE
2022 MAFPD Conference in the books…
Another great year at the MAFPD annual conference. I enjoyed the discussions during my “Return of the Roaring 20’s” presentation and the turnout was great! By the way, if you are a firefighter and have not had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Sarah Jahnke speak on firefighter health and well-being, you absolutely must make […]