GRANT TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A Senate hearing is scheduled Thursday in Lansing to discuss workers' compensation for paid-on-call, volunteer and part-time firefighters and law enforcement officers.
A group of firefighters is working so that no one on the frontlines has to experience the financial burden that one West Michigan family went through after losing a loved one.
Grant Township Fire Chief Dan Yost remembers that day like it was yesterday.
He and Michael Buitendorp were both at home when they got the call to come to the station— not long after that, everything changed.
"I heard all the traffic as it started to come in. And it'll definitely stick in my mind for the rest of my career," Yost told FOX 17.
Buitendorp was heading out to a call about a reported camper fire back in November 2020.
The 40-year-old suffered a heart attack while driving his fire truck and passed away.
Now, his jacket and a picture hang up inside the front door of the garage in a shadow box.
"It was something that he always wanted to do. I remember that from his application. He put on there he always wanted to be a firefighter and he was finally at a point in his life where he could," Yost added.
Buitendorp, like the now-20-other Grant Township firefighters, was a paid-on-call worker. They go through the same training, the same intense rescues and the same stress as other firefighters; however, they are only considered "part-time."
"After Mike passed away in the line of duty. So once we found out that he was denied, or I found out that he was denied workman's comp benefits, I started to dig into it a little more. And I said, 'I don't understand why he would be [denied].' This was clearly a work-related issue, or he was driving a fire truck, and, you know, this event happened," Yost explained.
After Buitendrop's death, Muskegon Township Fire Chief Dave Glotzbach is set on changing that.
"Senate Bill 244 has been introduced to help provide some equity between paid-on-call, part-time and full-time firefighters and police officers," Glotzbach said.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Jon Bumstead, would amend the Worker's Disability Compensation Act of 1969— allowing paid-on-call, part-time firefighters and law enforcement possible coverage for cardiac and respiratory illnesses while on the job.
However, compensation is not guaranteed since each claim will get a review.
"Here's an opportunity for us to at least show some equality to the coverage provided the full-time firefighters to those who are doing this job in a capacity that's frankly not their career, yet they're giving back to their communities. And let's provide that equality to ensure that they're being covered to the same level as our full-time folks," Glotzbach said.
"We can't change anything for Mike but we're really hoping that future firefighters, especially in the volunteer paid-on-call service, and not just firefighters, you know, EMS and law enforcement as well, but it's gonna benefit them, you know, and their families," Yost added.
