Volunteer Fire Departments Flooding SWIF with Applications

By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau ChiefVolunteer fire departments across Pennsylvania are flooding the State Workers' Insurance Fund with applications for workers' compensation coverage because carriers fearing big payouts from cancer claims are leaving the market, fire officials and independent agents said this week."SWIF is overwhelmed because they can't keep up with the workload," Jason Ernest, deputy chief executive officer and general counsel of the Independent Agents & Brokers of Pennsylvania, said Monday.The agents group is telling members that many of the state's ...