Two white volunteer firefighters in Delaware face felony charges after what authorities are calling a hate crime.
Jay Droney and Jordan Hastings, then-members of the Millville Volunteer Fire Company, allegedly chased an African American EMT through the fire station with a noose, trying to get it around their neck. After the incident, Droney continued to make racist remarks to the EMT.
The incident reportedly happened in February 2024, but Millville’s administration didn’t receive a formal report until April 9 of this year. They followed protocol by notifying Delaware State Police, which launched an investigation, and the Delaware State Fire Commission.
But here’s the issue – there’s little the Fire Commission can do in response. Executive director of the Fire Commission Sherry Lambertson said although the Commission can make recommendations and encourage changes, it can’t enforce them.
“Unfortunately, the Fire Commission does not have oversight or legal authority over the fire companies in Delaware,” Lambertson said.
The Commission can only offer guidance and urge fire companies to strengthen inclusion and harassment prevention policies.
“There are 60 separate corporations within the state of Delaware that operate as volunteer fire companies,” Lambertson said. “They run and manage themselves by their own policies, procedures and bylaws. So the state of Delaware is a regulatory agency.”
“We can bring them before the Commission and have a hearing, but the commissioners can only make recommendations. That is it. They can't hold them accountable.”Delaware Fire Commission investigator Frank Fioravaniti
There isn’t an agency in the state that has authority over the fire companies. Civil issues are handled at the local level, and when crimes occur, companies are required to pass reports to the State Police and the Commission, which isn’t allowed to act on those reports.
And that’s a big problem, according to some involved with the Commission – especially when incidents like the one in Millville occur.
“We can bring them before the Commission and have a hearing, but the commissioners can only make recommendations. That is it. They can't hold them accountable,” Commission investigator Frank Fioravaniti said.
That’s why members of the Fire Commission are pushing for more authority and oversight, including a statewide certification program and standardized rules.
Volunteer and paid firefighters already have to go through training to be qualified for their positions, but there isn’t a certification system for career or volunteer firefighters.
EMTs are certified through the Fire Commission, and the certification that allows them to work can be revoked. However, there’s no equivalent system for firefighters in Delaware, according to Fire Commission chief investigator Dave Truax.
“The simplest thing is you have firefighters and EMTs working side by side,” Truax said. “The EMT is being held to a different standard, and action can be taken against that EMT that can't be taken against the firefighter. And I really don't see the difference there.”
Truax said it’s up to fire departments to do the right thing.
“In this case, it sounds like Millville took appropriate action per their policies and procedures,” Truax said.
When the alleged crime was reported to the Millville Volunteer Fire Company, Droney and Hastings were immediately suspended, according to the company’s public information officer Gary Caunitis.
The company’s investigation took less than 24 hours and resulted in the expulsion of both volunteers from the company and turning the case over to the police.
From there, Caunitis said company officials made policy changes.
“One of the things that struck me through this whole particular event was that it can be difficult for the victims to come forward, and so we took steps in our policies to make sure that there's many avenues for them to report, and that it's easier for them to report and try to do so as anonymously as possible,” Caunitis said.
The company also added training on anti-harassment, discrimination and sexual harassment for volunteers and career firefighters and is already at about 80 percent compliance ahead of a September deadline.
“This is going to be a continuous evolution,” Caunitis said. “This isn't going to be a one and done. This is required to be done annually, and it is now a requirement of membership and employment.”
These changes are in line with what the Fire Commission recommended fire companies statewide do following the alleged crime in Millville.
But there’s some pushback at the fire companies’ level against added bureaucracy. That includes Sussex County Councilmember Steve McCarron, who has been a part of the Bridgeville Fire Company for 32 years and previously served as president and vice president.
“To me, it doesn't make sense,” McCarron said. “I would say this, if the state wants to get serious about certifying who's a firefighter in the state of Delaware, the state needs to stop being so lazy in their funding of the fire service in the state of Delaware.”
All three counties commissioned studies of their local fire companies - two are completed.
Sussex County’s study reported a drastic drop in volunteer numbers, which could indicate an impending shift toward career firefighters, and funding troubles at some companies.
New Castle County’s study concurs and finds the current fire model unsustainable. It recommends the county consider “a more coordinated and integrated approach to providing fire and EMS countywide.”
It also suggests a gradual transition toward career firefighters staffing fire companies and being supplemented by volunteers. The Wilmington Fire Department is the only location in Delaware whose staff are fully paid.
McCarron said he’s in support of gradual change in the system, but an immediate change to a certification model could backfire.
“I go back, I take my continuing ed, and I go to this and that. But at what point in time at my age do I just say I've got enough on my plate, and this was fun, but once again, I've got a family, I've got an occupation, and just a general person, and it becomes a serious burden on the volunteer?” McCarron asked.
Clayton Fire Company secretary Kevin Wilson has been a member for 50 years and has served as fire chief, president and public information officer.
Wilson said he is amenable to changes in Delaware’s fire service. But like McCarron, he doesn’t want the Commission to go over the top.
“We take this as a slow process,” Wilson said. “Let's get something started. It's the old adage of how do you eat an elephant? Eat it one bite at a time… The same thing with these standards. Let's get a personnel standard, or a personnel conduct standard, a training standard.”
The current lack of oversight and a standardized statewide code leaves room for Droney and Hastings to reenter the fire service in the future.
“It would be possible that if charges were to be reduced, even dropped…” Truax said. “That possibility would exist that at some point they could go back to a fire department in the state and apply for membership.”
And the Millville incident isn’t isolated.
In 2020, the former director and chief of the Lewes Fire Department Bill Buckaloo was suspended for using a racial slur on social media. He was selected again as chief of the same department just last year.
A firefighter from the Cranston Heights Fire Department was also expelled and arrested in 2020 after sending racist texts to Black first responders.
Fioravaniti said there have been at least five serious behavioral violations in the last five years that the Commission knows of. And while incidents like these aren’t common, even a few can tarnish the reputation of the entire fire service.
“It's that one or two percent that are bad apples, and they make everyone in that profession look bad,” Fioravaniti said.
“As long as it's equitable and fair for everybody and there's a way to enforce it for everybody, I'm all for that. Give me a standard, and we'll meet the standard.”Clayton Fire Company secretary Kevin Wilson
McCarron agreed it’s important to address those situations.
“There [are] going to be instances where you've got a bad apple in there,” McCarron said. “It's just a numbers thing at that point in time, once you get a certain amount of people. I do think the fire service in general does a good job of policing our own.”
Alongside behavioral issues, the Fire Commission is also concerned about financial accountability.
Just last April, a member of the Little Creek Volunteer Fire Company was charged with theft and unlawful use of a payment card, including two felonies.
But Commission Chief Investigator Dave Truax said it has no authority to audit how fire companies manage their funding.
“We have forged a relationship with the Auditor's office that has not been there before,” Truax said. “And through their efforts and our efforts, we are finding theft, misuse, and sometimes it's just a matter of not good, sound accounting practices. Nobody's doing anything wrong. They just are not keeping good paperwork.”
The Fire Commission wants oversight power here, too, in order to keep track of company spending, Fioravaniti said.
“There's no accountability for that money once that money is turned over to the fire department,” Fioravaniti said. “We don't know what they do with it. Hopefully they're doing the right thing, but what if they're not?”
Fire Commission executive director Lambertson said seeking more accountability does not mean the Commission is asking for complete authority, just a mechanism to keep things from slipping through the cracks.
“What we're looking for is the ability to, where we have current or past cases that law enforcement hasn't had the staffing or ability to assist, we then have to close cases because we don't have the ability to investigate on a criminal level,” Lambertson said.
Lambertson said she envisions a mechanism that has the Commission working alongside and supplementing law enforcement.
McCarron said he sees things differently.
“Justify to me hiring people,” McCarron said. “We've got investigators, right, that are understaffed. How do we justify hiring investigators at a completely separate agency to investigate things that we do have personnel for if they were adequately staffed?”
Standardizing policies and rules statewide could be a start. Wilson noted Delaware fire companies all have rules that look fairly similar, such as requiring their firefighters to attend regular trainings and their gear to be safe and effective in use, and he believed companies could work with uniform statewide standards.
“As long as it's equitable and fair for everybody and there's a way to enforce it for everybody, I'm all for that,” Wilson said. “Give me a standard, and we'll meet the standard.”
McCarron concurred. He said there should be a blanket policy across the state for firefighters.
“Having a sexual harassment policy, having a discrimination policy, those should all be things that is the expectation of every member…” McCarron said. “Certainly, having a policy and the standard policy throughout the state of Delaware makes that much easier on any administrators.”
At Legislative Hall, the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee has heard the Fire Commission’s case for stronger oversight powers.
But its chair, State Sen. Kyra Hoffner (D-Dover), said the committee does not plan to move on legislation regarding the Fire Commission this year.
“I thought it would be best that we hold off this year and everyone sit down together over the summer and write a bill that everyone can agree on,” Hoffner said. “Like everyone agrees that background checks have to happen, and then the registration part. We're all coming to the table where we do want registration.”
Those will likely be included in future legislation. Hoffner said the current process, which includes an in-state background check, could expand to a federal background check with enough support.
Registration would help lay the foundation for potential changes to managing majority career firefighters by knowing how many are in each firehouse. If put in place, it would not act as a certification system.
Hoffner said that step – and any other changes in the rules that guide firefighters associations, fire houses and what bodies control them – need input and buy in. But she understood the push to move beyond the status quo.
“Over the years, things have gotten a little muddied, but the Commission has to keep in touch with the firefighters associations, the chiefs,” Hoffner said. “They're not supposed to be just going off and doing things on their own. Everybody should be at the table.”
Hoffner plans to include the Delaware Volunteer Firefighter’s Association, fire chiefs, and presidents and representatives with the Commission in conversations later this summer.
With all of the players and stakeholders involved, Hoffner hopes all parties can feel represented and considered in rethinking oversight of Delaware’s fire service.
