Lynchburg fire chief outlines staffing, training and station plans; council presses on equipment, PFAS and asbestos

Lynchburg Fire Chief Greg Wormser told the City Council on April 8 that the department has seen significant investment in personnel, pay and training since 2018 and described near‑term plans for a new flagship Station 9 and modernization of existing stations.

Wormser said the department budget rose from $15.8 million in fiscal 2018 — about 7% of the city budget then — to $25.1 million in fiscal 2025, roughly 10.5% of the total. He said average firefighter pay has increased more than 40% in four years, citing a rise from about $44,500 to about $63,000, and that master firefighter pay rose from roughly $53,000 to about $75,700. Starting pay increased from $38,001 to about $47,500, he said.

“Our workforce is our top priority,” Wormser said. He described a move to a step pay plan to increase pay transparency and career progression; expanded training, from roughly 7,000 hours annually in 2018 to more than 36,000 hours in 2024 (about 204 hours per employee per year); and city‑funded paramedic school at Central Virginia Community College with no out‑of‑pocket cost to participants.

Wormser also described mental‑health supports, chaplain services, a contracted athletic trainer and other programmatic steps. He said those programs helped reduce employee medical and workers‑compensation costs; he told council the trainer’s work saved employees more than $70,000 in copays and the city more than $150,000 in workers’ comp costs last year.

On facilities, Wormser described work from a Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH) facilities study and said Station 9 — built with a public‑private partnership with Liberty University — is under construction and intended as a model for future station modernizations. He told council the modernization effort focuses on three priorities the department identified: cardiac impact reduction, human factors (for example separate living/restroom spaces by gender) and cancer‑risk reduction, including adding decontamination spaces and removing turnout gear from living quarters.

Council members questioned specific equipment and facility safety items. Councilmember Tim Mitchell (identified in the meeting as raising the issue) said he had documentation from Stryker — the vendor that services stretchers and cardiac devices — stating 51 pieces of equipment “between stretchers, power loads, stair pros, life packs, and Lucas devices are beyond their service life.” Wormser disputed that characterization for some categories, saying, for example, that “none of the stretchers are beyond its service life” and that the stretcher service life is 15 years.

Mitchell asked the staff to reconcile Stryker’s documentation with the fire department’s records; Wormser said he would work with staff and the vendor to reconcile the counts. City Manager Winter Bender emphasized that he and the chief are aligned: “I’m taking his recommendation on how best to invest in the fire department,” Bender told council.

Council members also pressed Wormser on PFAS (per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in turnout gear. Wormser said he was “sure some of it does” contain PFAS and that the department is testing several sets of new turnout gear but had not yet confirmed whether those test sets are PFAS‑free. He and several council members said replacing PFAS‑containing gear should be part of a replacement plan if the technology is available and affordable.

On asbestos concerns, Wormser said an OSHA/Department of Labor and Industry‑led test in February 2019 found mastic (adhesive) in tile floors with less than 2% asbestos content and that the level was “well within safe limits” provided the material is left undisturbed. He said floors in Station 1 and Station 8 had not yet been replaced and that the city has been replacing floors where needed.

Wormser repeatedly told council “I assure you … our equipment is the best money can buy” and that all critical devices — cardiac monitors, stretchers, stair chairs, compression devices — were in service and under maintenance agreements where appropriate. He said the city conducts annual maintenance visits from vendors, including Stryker, to maintain capital equipment.

Council members thanked Wormser for the presentation and pressed staff to provide follow‑up details: reconcile Stryker’s inventory and service‑life claims; give a schedule for floor encapsulation or replacement at Stations 1 and 8; and report how many employees have entered and completed the city‑funded paramedic program. Wormser and staff agreed to supply those details in follow‑up memos.

Ending: Council members voiced support for continued investment while asking for documentation on equipment life, specifics on PFAS testing and a clear schedule for facility upgrades. The chief said the department will continue modernizing facilities and investing in training and personnel, while staff will return with reconciled equipment inventories and additional data for council review.