The Stafford County Fire and Rescue Department lacks a "culture of safety" and is headed for a "catastrophic event" unless attitudes change, an independent review warns.

Fire and Rescue Chief Rob Brown and County Administrator Steve Crosby requested the outside study following a dispute between paid and volunteer units responding to a May 15 house fire on Rosedale Drive in the Rock Hill area.

An engine with a paid crew from the Mountain View Fire Department arrived first, followed by an engine from the Stafford Volunteer Fireman's Association.

The county's standard operating procedure requires the second engine to supply water to the first. But in this case, the volunteer crew pulled its own hose and refused to provide the backup water supply.

No one was seriously injured, but other safety concerns were raised that led county officials to seek the review.

A four-man team from Chesterfield County Fire and Emergency Medical Services analyzed documents, studied procedures and interviewed members of the Stafford fire and rescue squads before providing a 25-page report to the county last month.

The team determined that the volunteer crew's refusal "did not appear to be malicious" because the truck operator was unfamiliar with deploying the backup water line.

But the review cited a number of apparent safety violations at the scene, including failure to wear proper protective gear and provide backup for firefighters inside the structure. It also noted that one firefighter accidentally struck another with a power saw, only narrowly avoiding a serious injury.

The report also found that:

Some personnel were unfamiliar with Stafford's fire and rescue procedures and lacked proper training.

Units responding to the fire did not follow command and control procedure.

Communication at the scene was poor.

Interviews with firefighters showed that some have an attitude that they operate by their own rules.

That attitude is responsible for most of the safety issues cited and "will eventually lead to a catastrophic event for Stafford County if not addressed," the report warned.

"Universally, there does not appear to be a culture of safety within the organization," it concluded.

The team advocated that Stafford immediately implement a "comprehensive safety initiative" with a zero-tolerance policy for any firefighter or officer who does not follow safe work practices.

"If this does not occur, it is not a matter of if another event is going to occur, but when," the report said.

County officials' reaction was mixed. Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer called the report "pretty damning."

"How can you have an organization [whose] whole purpose and mission is safety that doesn't have a culture of safety?" Dudenhefer said.

But John McDonald, chief of the Stafford Volunteer Fireman's Association, took issue with the broad indictment on safety issues.

He noted that the Rosedale fire was the first time paid and volunteer crews had responded to a call together, and that the concerns cited stemmed from one isolated event.

"I know that the opinion is suppose to be unbiased, but when you're only reviewing a single incident, in lieu of the thousands, it's hard to identify our system as having a lack of safety culture," he said.

He acknowledged that mistakes were made, but said, "No one did anything out of malice."

Supervisor Paul Milde noted that the report exonerated the volunteers on the accusation of refusing to provide a backup water supply.

"They were told what a bunch of screw-ups they were and it was going to be proven by this report, and that just didn't happen," he said.

Brown said he was satisfied with the assessment.

"There was no intentional withholding of the water," he said. "That was my biggest concern that we didn't have a culture clash going here that was going to cause a safety issue."

Brown said he wants the entire department to work under a set of cohesive guidelines and a single command structure. But that will take some time, he said.

"You just can't write a policy and throw it out there," the chief said. "You have to have training on the policy, you have to institutionalize the policy."