El Paso County Sheriff’s Office refutes tweet about volunteer firefighter resignations over ‘hostile’ environment
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The El Paso County Sheriff's Office says a tweet from the EPC Wildland Fire Twitter account about 18 volunteer firefighters resigning from their positions is "not accurate."
The tweet was posted to the @epcwildland account at about 2:15 p.m. Friday and said, "We want to thank the 18 volunteer firefighters who mass resigned." A reporter with CBS Denver replied to the original tweet asking for a reason given, and the account replied saying, "They said the environment became hostile to the volunteers and they felt they were no longer needed or wanted."
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Friday evening that "while there have been some resignations by members of the EPC Wildland Fire Team, the information posted was not accurate." The sheriff's office didn't give further details about the resignations, including exactly how many members have resigned.
The tweet from @epcwildland was still online as of 5:30 p.m., after the sheriff's office issued a news release. The EPC Wildland Fire Twitter also said a letter was sent to the sheriff, but the sheriff's office didn't verify if that was accurate. EPCSO said they're "looking into the source of these tweets."
Due to the tweets, the sheriff's office now says "any information relevant to the EPC Wildland Fire Team will be disseminated by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office Public Information Office." EPCSO said, "Any information put out until further notice from the EPC Wildland Fire Twitter handle is not official communication from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office."
EPC Wildland Fire falls under the Emergency Services Section of the Sheriff's Office, according to EPCSO, and it is staffed by a combination of paid staff and volunteer members.
We're working on getting more information.
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