Why does Quigley have a VFD reputation?

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Very good Isandthebooks! I had never noticed this detail! I knew he was a trained VFD agent! He even has a reputation! In fact Lemony refers to a genius cartographer in TSS chapter 13: "I know exactly where the Baudelaires went, and can even trace their path on a map drawn by one of the most promising young cartographers of our time." Was this cartographer Quigley?

Another interesting excerpt is in chapter 4 of TSS:
“I'm sorry for the delay,” Violet said, choosing her words as carefully as she could. “We haven't had a very fun day, so it's difficult to think of a good story.”

“I didn't realize this was a sad occasion,” said the sweatered scout.
(This is a VFD secret code. The recognition code. He wanted to know if the Baudelaires had already been definitely recruited or not. If they answered "The world is quiet here," Quigley would know they had been recruited.)

Another interesting part in chapter 5:

“I'm sure you have lots of questions,” the boy whispered, “but we can't talk here. Bruce is a light sleeper, and he's caused V.F.D. enough trouble already without learning another of our secrets. ”
(our secrets?)

"I know that having a good vocabulary doesn't guarantee that I'm a good person," the boy said. “But it does mean I've read a great deal. And in my experience, well-read people are less likely to be evil. ”
(Where did he get so much "experience"?)

chapter 7:
"The scout sighed, and turned a page in the commonplace book." I'm not sure, "he admitted." Another volunteer told me that it's the central theme of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. ”
(How did another volunteer tell me? Does he consider himself a volunteer himself?)

“It's a very long book,” Klaus replied. “But I can work quickly. My sisters and I once tapped out a long telegram in time at all. ”“ Too bad that telegram never arrived, ”the scout said quietly.
(How did Quigley know the telegram had never arrived?)

Chapter 8:
"But what is the organization?" Violet asked. “What is V.F.D.?” “Jacques wouldn't tell me,” Quigley said, “but I think the letters stand for Volunteer Fire Department.”
(I think it was a very accurate guess).

[Dante]

It is curious that Quigley sounds like more of a V.F.D. insider before his identity is revealed, and while it is a common and reasonable theory that he knew more than he was letting on, it's also entirely plausible that Jacques inducted him into a few of V.F.D.'s secrets and codes for if he was ever stranded on his own and needed to know if he was speaking with somebody he could trust. At that point, he could consider himself a de facto member of the organisation, as indeed the Baudelaires later do.

With that said, Fiona's statement is entirely innocuous. It's only natural that V.F.D. would be interested in the Quagmires and would know a great deal about them and their abilities, and that news of Quigley's survival would have been disseminated by Jacques. They would have lost track of him in the sense that, after he and Jacques parted ways, there was no longer anyone to attest to Quigley's location as he was travelling entirely alone.

[Foxy]

They may have been tracking him since Jacques found him in the Reptile Room, and he gave the other volunteers information about Quigley, giving him a good reputation. I think they "lost track of him" after he left the Reptile Room and went searching for the Baudelaires, although if lots of other volunteers were searching for the Baudelaires, you would think all these people would run into each other at some point...

[Hermes]

It's totally reasonable that VFD would track Quigley - as they do the Baudelaires - because he is both from a VFD family, and a de facto recruit. (Volunteer means volunteer. Anyone can join VFD.)

The 'a long time ago' is confusing, though - it can't actually be that long since he parted from Jacques - being an example of the tendency in the later books to overestimate the time things are taking. And there's another odd tendency in the later books to treat the whereabouts of the other Quagmires as mysterious, though we know they escaped in the SSHAMH, which is meant never to come down, and there's no reason to doubt that they are still there.