The union representing 1,800 of the District’s firefighters and paramedics is continuing its barrage against D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe with an overwhelming vote of no confidence.

The vote was 300 to 37, the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 36 announced today in the latest salvo the union has made against a fire department it has been hammering over proposed shift changes, staffing vacancies, and the state of the fleet of emergency vehicles.

“Hopefully this is a wake-up call,” Ed Smith, the president of Local 36, says. “It was a matter of last resort. There has to be accountability, and that starts at the top.”

The most recent flap between the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services and its employees stems from a March 5 incident in which a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was struck by a car in Southeast D.C. was tended to by an ambulance from Prince George’s County when no city ambulances were available to respond. A report last week by Paul Quander, the deputy mayor for public safety, found that three D.C. ambulances were improperly out of service when the officer was injured; seven fire department employees have been referred for “personnel action.”

Ellerbe has pushed for a fleet schedule that would prioritize ambulance deployment between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., but one that would leave the District without any paramedics on call between 1 and 7 a.m. The union has also been sharply critical of the condition of the fire department’s fleet of trucks.

“As the fleet was falling apart, [Ellerbe] was worried about changing the logos on the doors,” Smith says. “And look at the state of the fleet now. It’s just a backward priority.”

Some of the vehicles listed as reserve units last month on oversight documents submitted to the D.C. Council were found to be far from working condition, including a ladder truck that has actually been discarded in a Wisconsin junkyard. The fire department does have many orders in for new equipment this year, including six engines, two trucks, and 13 ambulances.

In recording the no-confidence vote, Local 36 also accuses fire department management of intimidation and disciplinary threats in response to internal criticism. The union also repeats its complaint that the number of paramedics on the active roster is dangerously thin. In February, Ellerbe gave his annual “State of the Department” speech to an empty auditorium after rank-and-file firefighters skipped the event in protest over staffing levels.

But Mayor Vince Gray has been standing by his fire chief. “I’m delighted to be working with him,” Gray said of Ellerbe at a press conference last week. Administration officials have also said that the firefighters’ union has been “fabricating” their claims against Ellerbe.

In a prepared statement, Ellerbe says that despite the vote, he plans to continue his attempts to reform the department. “I look forward to strengthening our capabilities and putting our resources to better use in order to uphold the confidence of those we serve every day,” he says.