The Pahrump Valley Firefighters IAFF Local 4068 is calling for the resignation of Fire Chief Scott Lewis or his removal from his position due to a 56-point list of health, safety, and mismanagement concerns that the union co-wrote. The union members have cast two votes of no confidence in Lewis, with the most recent one occurring recently, with 82 percent of union members who cast ballots indicating that Lewis was not fit to hold his job. The union is planning to censor Lewis during upcoming industry conventions and is done negotiating with him on the merits of his over 20-year tenure with the department.
The list of concerns includes inadequate staffing, firefighter recruiting and retention issues, no minimum staffing policy in writing, highest firefighter turnover rate per capita in Nevada, no swift water/flood rescue/technical rescue/hazmat teams, no life safety inspector captain, shutting down entire fire stations for IFTs, and overextending resources for mutual aid/automatic aid, among others. Sutton, Pahrump’s town manager, acknowledged that some of the concerns raised during the vote are legitimate, but claims that they should be addressed during the collective bargaining process, adding that IAFF members and town officials have a history of “productive collective bargaining.”
