Dear Editor,
Killington Fire and Rescue was once a respectable agency made up of members that love the town they serve. Now it has gone from a group of people that are there to help the neighbors, to a boy’s club forcing out anyone the current chief and his buddies do not align with. This proves evident just by walking through the gear room. It used to be based on rank and performance. Last time I walked through and saw names of people that never show up to calls or training, now sweeping in at the right time to get new gear and lockers. As for me, I am a member of the military, who took all the right steps to stay with the department. In 2020 I went before the chief and the department telling them I would be joining the U.S. Marine Corps and asked for a military leave of absence. I was granted the leave of absence after a unanimous vote by the department. Since then, I come home to Vermont when I am on leave from the military to be with friends and family and still will drop everything to respond to calls. This past time I came home and tried to do so, I went looking for my gear at the department store and it was not in my locker. I then looked around and it had been removed from the gear room and my name was erased from my locker. I have been removed from the department roster. I was never contacted by the chief with his intent to erase me from the department and pull all my gear. I find it shameful; the way things have been going and continue to go, from promising people positions to pulling rank of certain individuals in the department.
Tom Rock III,
Killington
