ELIZABETHE HOLLAND
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
OVERLAND –
Angry and bitter after watching her daughter endure 2 1/2 years of
surgeries and rehab due to burns suffered in a house fire, Marolyn
Schuenke confronted the Community Fire Protection District board of
directors Tuesday night.
"You guys all had your arms around me in the hospital saying you’d
take care of her," Schuenke charged as the directors, eyes cast
downward, walked to their cars following a closed board meeting called
to address the termination of firefighter-paramedic Cindy Schuenke.
The board members — Leo Morrow, Dan Doerr and Fran Costello — and
board attorney Neil Bruntrager told reporters they could not comment on
Schuenke’s status after the meeting with Schuenke and her attorney,
Michael Schaller.
On March 29, 2006, while searching for the mother of a fellow
firefighter in a burning house in Vinita Terrace, Schuenke fell into a
fiery basement. She suffered severe burns, the worst of which resulted
in the amputation of several fingertips and one of her little fingers.
Since the fire, she has had multiple surgeries but has maintained her
desire to return to work as a firefighter-paramedic.
Community’s board met with Schuenke and Schaller due to a grievance
against the board alleging that the directors had failed to give
Schuenke a hearing, as district policy requires, before terminating her
in July.
Schuenke learned she’d been fired in a letter from fire district
Chief Fred Cain. "Given the nature and extent of your injuries, it is
clear that you are unable to perform the duties required in that
position," the letter said.
Schuenke was fired despite a June 11 letter from her surgeon, Dr.
Michael Smock, in which he wrote that Schuenke hadn’t reached a plateau
in her recovery and that he believed it would take another year or more
for her to reach a point of "maximum medical improvement."
"I cannot rule out the possibility of Ms. Schuenke returning to work as a firefighter/paramedic," Smock wrote.
"Here’s somebody who risked her life to try to save the mother of a
fire captain in this district and now, two years later, when all the
smoke and dust has cleared, they’re going to cut her loose and make her
live off Social Security disability, and that’s just not fair,"
Schaller said.
In tears after the meeting, Schuenke said her career wasn’t over.
"This is what I’ve always wanted to do with my life," she said. "I’m
not done yet."
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