ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Join Brian Miller, a retired first responder, as he delves into a conversation with Chief Williams of Norfolk Fire and Rescue. In this episode, they explore the deep-rooted traditions of the Norfolk Fire Department, which has been serving the community for over 150 years. Chief Williams shares insights into the department's ongoing efforts to adapt to changing times, including the introduction of paramedic-only positions to meet the growing demand for specialized EMS services.
Discover how Norfolk Fire and Rescue manages a unique set of challenges due to the city's size, busy call volume, and the need to address a wide range of emergency situations, from high-rise fires to water rescues. The conversation also touches upon the recruitment and training process, highlighting the department's strategies to ensure new recruits are placed in positions where they can excel and thrive.
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
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Welcome to the First Responders Podcast, the podcast for first responders made by first responders.
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Now for your host, Brian Miller, a retired first responder with over 25 years of experience.
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All right, you're back with the First Responders Podcast. This is Brian.
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I am on the phone this time with Chief Williams from Norfolk Fire and Rescue.
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Before Chief gets on here, I just want to say, in the interest of transparency,
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my dad was a Norfolk firefighter for 30 years.
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That department played a huge part in my life growing up because not only was
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my dad a firefighter, my mother worked at the Norfolk Fire Department Credit
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Union for close to 40 years, if I remember right.
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So, you know, that department has played a big part in my life.
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And I still, when I get to Norfolk, every time I see one of those Indians or
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one of those Norfolk medics, I swell up a little bit thinking about my folks.
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All right. Good morning, Chief. How are you, sir? Good morning,
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Brian. Great. Thank you. How are you doing today? I am doing well, sir. Doing well. So...
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Like I told you before, this is an information thing and a recruiting thing.
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So everybody I talk to gets the same set of questions.
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We'll be 15, 20, maybe 25 minutes.
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But, Chief, if you could tell me first a little bit about the city of Norfolk
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and the department that serves it.
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Okay. Well, as you know, I'm sure you're well familiar with the city of Norfolk.
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We've got about 250,000, 260,000 residents here in the city.
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It's a very old city as far as it goes on the East Coast here.
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And our department is actually one of the older departments in the nation.
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We're just over 150 years old.
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It was started back in 1871, which is a long time ago.
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Yeah, and you know, on the other end of the spectrum, the other day I interviewed
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one of the fire marshals from Chesapeake, and that department was,
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what, 50, 60 years old. It's a big time gap.
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Yeah, we've got a lot of tradition in this department. We still have one of
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the older fire stations,
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and we still are using it today, but right down the street from it,
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we have a brand new one being built, and we expect it to be ready to be moved
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into by the end of this September.
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So we're getting close to moving out of that old station, which is one of the
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original horse and buggy stations.
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We've only got two left of those, but yeah, so that's kind of exciting for us.
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But yes, to get back to that, we are a very, very old traditional fire department.
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We've got 14 fire stations, and we run three shifts with just over 500 sworn
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members on our department.
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Wow. And you do the 24-hour shifts, correct? Yes, sir. We do 24-hour shifts.
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Our shifts are actually from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m..
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We are a split department of fire and medics, and we just recently, this year,
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started hiring for what we call paramedic-only positions because there is a
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demand right now for the paramedics for that level of EMS certification.
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We're finding that a lot of our members, it's very difficult for them to go
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back to school and get that certification.
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And some just don't want to because it is a very challenging position.
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But we are trying to adapt and overcome the shortage.
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And we just started hiring paramedic onlys. And right now, currently, we have 12 of them.
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And we're looking to just add a few more and see how that goes.
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You know, that was a conversation my dad and I had often because,
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you know, he went in in 1963 or 64 when they were doing the,
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God, what was it, 24 on, 24 off or ever.
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I mean, that old schedule was brutal. But we would always have the conversation
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because I got started late in life. I was, I think I was 34 or 35 when I went
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through my EMT training down in North Carolina.
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And decided to come home and try to follow dad into the fire department.
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But I had some back and neck problems. I was out of the running early,
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but we always had that conversation about medics and firefighters being two
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different types of people.
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And, you know, the old guys, like my dad, didn't want anything to do with being a medic.
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And back then, the medics didn't want anything to do with being firefighters.
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So that was always a good conversation.
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And I think we're finding out these years later that it's true to a certain
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extent. I think you're right.
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I think that's, unfortunately, when we merged back in the day when we were Norfolk
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Fire Department and Norfolk Paramedical Services and we merged,
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there were a lot of people forced into a situation they didn't want to be in.
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And, you know, a lot of the departments in the nation did the same thing because it saves money.
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But now we're going back to the way it was.
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It's almost like where we are realizing that there are people that don't want
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to do certain things anymore.
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And after COVID, I think the mentality is, especially for the younger generation,
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that life is too short. I'm not going to do something I don't want to do.
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And that's what we're facing right now. Yeah, it's a dilemma.
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And it was, you know, I, I'm old enough when my dad, you know,
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my dad went from Norfolk fire to what was Norfolk fire and paramedical services at one time.
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And he would, I don't know what that all that means. I'm a firefighter,
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yada, yada. Didn't want anything to do with that medical stuff.
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So tell me about, I know you, I know you guys, you're firefighters,
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the fire department first, but what other specialty units do you guys have?
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So we have, well, being surrounded by water, we have a pretty robust water rescue
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program, which we call, what we call is a VOP or vessel operator program.
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So there's, you know, a lot of training goes into that because we have a couple of,
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we have two 32-foot fire rescue boats that have pump capabilities up to 1,500
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gallons per minute with a bunch of lifesaving equipment on them.
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And we also have equipment that can monitor and detect nuclear and biological
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and chemical emergencies, which was a grant through the Navy because of,
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you know, we cover the Navy base.
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So we've got some really high specialty equipment on those vessels just because
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of the proximity to the Naval base here.
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We've got a pretty robust technical rescue program here, which is combined with
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our hazardous material specialists as well.
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So we have two rescue companies. One's located at Station 1 downtown,
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and the other one's Station 14 by the airport.
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Oh, God. You know, my dad spent years at 14 and actually loved that station
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because they stayed moving, man.
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And nothing's changed. I just
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spent four years there before I came into my position that I'm in now.
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And the nickname is called The Nuthouse because it never stops.
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Every now and again, I'd go home and my wife would say, how was your night?
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And I'd say, well, I didn't have any calls, but I'd never got a minute of sleep
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because the bell just keeps going off there. It doesn't matter who it's for.
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That place is literally a nut house. Yes, sir, it is.
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So tell me about, I'm not sure we have fire marshals and all that too, correct?
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We do. Yeah, we have a full fire prevention program. We have a public education program.
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Our training department is pretty large right now. We're running two academies a year out of that.
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So we run a fire academy basically starting one every six months.
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So we have to consistently rotate people from the street into the fire academy
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to maintain that recruitment level.
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And then in our administrative positions, you know, we've got our logistics,
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which has expanded over the years to two major full-size warehouses full of
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spare apparatus and equipment and all the specialty stuff that we need to get nowadays.
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Wow. So you touched on the academy.
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Yeah. Tell me real, real briefly about, cause I'm sure you guys are shorthanded, right?
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We, we are, but not as bad as.
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Some of the other departments that you may hear of, we, you know,
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it's, it's, it's one of those fluctuations where we graduate in academy and
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we put 25 to 30 people on the street and we think we're back to normal.
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And then we have those members that are eligible for retirement that we weren't
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expecting and they just decide to, to retire.
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So, you know, it's, it's just such an up down flow of, of, of recruitment versus
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holding onto our people.
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And so right now we are, I want to say we are right around 45 people short,
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but we have, no, it's not, but it's enough, you know, in summertime right now,
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everybody wants to take their vacations.
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Plus we've got a few injuries. so with
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that being said we do run into a situation
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where we have to do a lot
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of overtime for people to make sure we staff our we never what what departments
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refer to as run short we never run short we never put a truck out of service
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and never run a truck short staff we are always fully staffed on every truck
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no matter what we do whether it means people can't go home in the morning is how we do it.
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So we do make sure we provide the service, a consistent service to the cities,
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as well as making sure we keep our members safe by having the right manpower on each truck.
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Very cool. So how is, I know, like the application process, you guys are short.
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Are y'all in the hiring process now?
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So it's what we used to hire once every two years.
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We're basically now, we're now, we are now trying to basically hire consistently.
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We, we seem to have an open, open application process all the time.
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Like I said, we're, we started that new paramedic only program.
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Yeah. So we're trying to pick up.
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People that are certified paramedics where we can throw them right onto the
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street without minimal training and minimal downtime.
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We're also looking for firefighters that are certified so we can bring them
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in and not have to put them through a nine-month fire academy.
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We can teach them the Norfolk way in a few weeks and then get them out there.
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But it's slim pickings, unfortunately.
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So your academy is nine months long? It is about nine months long.
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The application process is unfortunately almost just as long as the fire academy.
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Yeah, by the time we test them, get the applications in,
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test them, put them through the fingerprinting and the polygraphs and everything
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else, and the medical physical to make sure that they're eligible for the position,
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it is probably close to six months, seven months of a process.
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So are you getting interest?
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I know I heard a thing from, I think it was Portsmouth Police or fire a couple
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of months ago, actually had to delay a hiring process because they weren't getting enough applicants.
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No, we're very fortunate. We're fortunate that we, on average,
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get 300 to 400 applicants every time we put a process through.
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I'm sure you remember the days and I'm trying to remember what year it was it
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was the early 90s before my back problems started I took the test for Norfolk,
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And I believe they tested, I think, if I remember right, it was 1,200 or 1,300 for 10 or 15 jobs.
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That's what it was when I came in. I want to say it was about 1,500 people.
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We took our tests at Norfolk Scope. Yep, that's where I took mine.
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Yeah, there were so many people and there was less openings and more people applying.
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But yeah, and again, I am not blaming the younger generation.
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I think they just have a different outlook on life. Yep, exactly.
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And I think it's just harder to find people that want to do this job.
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And like you, I grew up in a fire department family.
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That's all I knew. My dad was a firefighter for 32 years. Oh, okay.
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So that's kind of all I knew. And I know there's a lot of other firefighters
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in our department that are legacy members.
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I know several chiefs that I grew up running around the ball fields with when
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our dads were playing ball. Yeah, it is. Yeah, exactly.
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So that's just harder to find nowadays.
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And it's also harder to find somebody who will stay on the job for 30 years, a lot of them. Oh, I know.
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That blows my mind. Yeah.
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It's a more transient workforce nowadays.
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They want to get five, six years in and say that they've crossed that off their
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bucket list and move on to something different.
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I had a friend back in the nineties when I, I was a volunteer firefighter down
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in North Carolina and I was going through training down there.
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And, uh, one of the guys that I was training with, he was actually going to
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be a paid firefighter and his philosophy was, eh, I'll just do this till I find something better.
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And me, I was like, there is nothing better than being a firefighter.
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But, you know, it didn't work out for me. I ended up in the sheriff's office.
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So, you know, public servants, raised public servants is the way it looks.
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I think that's, I think you're right there. That's for sure.
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We just had a, we just had a member retire the other day with 25 years on the job.
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And we were all talking about how fast your career goes by and how amazing the job still is.
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Even, even to this day, I don't, you know, there's not many people that retire
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out of this job bitter in the work.
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Place they they retire and miss it well i
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can i can tell you coming from 25 20 years
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of law enforcement i don't miss the job i miss the people man i because you
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know the stressful jobs that like you and i have it's the people around you
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that that gets you through definitely and you know second family yeah people
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love firefighters and people love medics but they don't think much of cops at all.
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Yeah, the environment for that has changed, that's for sure.
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Yeah, it's only been the last few years. I wouldn't trade my 20 years with the
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sheriff's office for anything.
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So let's touch a little bit on, all right, so the application process.
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Tell me a little bit about the academy. We know it's nine months.
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Is it still Tywater Regional?
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It is Hampton Roads Regional now. It's kind of merged over.
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They switched names. Same premise You go in there and depending on How.
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How we coordinate it, whether you do the EMS side first or the fire side first,
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typically it's about maybe three to four months of fire, and then it's about
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four to five months of medical.
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The medical is much more academically challenging, and the fire portion is much
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more physically challenging.
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So we try to, once you get in the academy, it's a very tough nine months of work and training.
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And we try to get everybody medically and physically and mentally,
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sorry, mentally and physically ready for the job.
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But that sometimes, you know, we do lose candidates in the academy because it's
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just not your normal job. And
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probably our success rate is probably right around 60 to 65% pass rate.
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That's very good. Yeah, and it's common. We talk to other departments around
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and we're like, are we doing something wrong?
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But no, they deal with the same thing.
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And there are some people that apply for the job and go through the whole process
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and get on, and it's their first week in the fire academy. They're like,
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this is not what I expected. Nope.
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Maybe we're just not doing a good enough job. been educating them before they
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get in the door, but I don't know how else you could do it.
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Well, I think a lot of it is, and you, like you and I both come from firefighter
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families, we knew what we were getting into before we put the application in.
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Absolutely. So we, you know, and it's not, it's not for everybody.
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You know, I know, I've known people personally to go through a fire academy
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or a police academy and quit two months after they get on the floors.
00:17:36.099 --> 00:17:41.579
Because they can't handle either the stress or, you know, there's an aspect
00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:45.999
because, you know, as well as I do that, whatever academy, whether you're a
00:17:45.999 --> 00:17:50.139
police officer or sheriff deputy or firefighter, you go through that academy.
00:17:51.470 --> 00:17:55.870
It teaches you probably 70% of what you really need to know to do the job.
00:17:56.330 --> 00:18:00.450
Yeah. Because once you get out there and you're in those stressful situations
00:18:00.450 --> 00:18:04.210
and you're dealing with the accidents and the shootings and all that,
00:18:04.590 --> 00:18:06.270
a lot of people can't handle that.
00:18:06.350 --> 00:18:10.170
You get them out of that academic setting and they're done. Right.
00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:17.910
So what is, all right, so we've talked about the application and the hiring
00:18:17.910 --> 00:18:19.410
process and the academy.
00:18:19.410 --> 00:18:23.630
What happens when they come out of the academy well
00:18:23.630 --> 00:18:26.690
when they come out of the academy what we try to
00:18:26.690 --> 00:18:31.090
do is we try to take each individual recruit
00:18:31.090 --> 00:18:34.250
and and look at their personality and
00:18:34.250 --> 00:18:39.630
how they how they manage through the academy and try to pair them up with a
00:18:39.630 --> 00:18:45.890
station that will might best suit them so that we have a higher success rate
00:18:45.890 --> 00:18:51.470
because like i said you know 14 station 14 team, the nut house, you're up all night.
00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:55.210
We're going to want somebody who did very well in the academy,
00:18:55.210 --> 00:19:03.710
looks like they would excel in a very busy station with a group that likes to train a lot.
00:19:03.830 --> 00:19:08.290
We may put somebody else that's a little more reserved in a slower,
00:19:08.750 --> 00:19:11.850
easier environment to learn the job, different station.
00:19:12.390 --> 00:19:15.910
If somebody's got strengths, like I said, water rescue strengths or swimming
00:19:15.910 --> 00:19:19.710
strengths, that their previous lifeguards or swimming instructors or anything
00:19:19.710 --> 00:19:24.330
of that, we may put them at a specialty station for the water rescue program.
00:19:24.510 --> 00:19:30.810
So we look at that to try and make sure we give them every opportunity we can
00:19:30.810 --> 00:19:32.310
to succeed in the career.
00:19:32.730 --> 00:19:36.230
So they report to duty and go to their office.
00:19:37.265 --> 00:19:41.725
We're working on what we call a Redbook, which basically helps guide them through
00:19:41.725 --> 00:19:49.165
what, you know, station life is all about and how we can train them once they're on the job.
00:19:49.265 --> 00:19:52.825
Because there's just, like you said, there's never a day you don't learn something different.
00:19:53.445 --> 00:19:56.665
And we try to make sure we cover all that for them.
00:19:56.945 --> 00:20:02.045
Yeah, and that's one of the goals of this podcast is to let the public know.
00:20:02.045 --> 00:20:07.085
So, you know, I remember my dad saying that the people used to fuss about them
00:20:07.085 --> 00:20:10.005
sitting around the fire station playing dominoes because that's what they did
00:20:10.005 --> 00:20:13.225
in the 60s and 70s, you know, before the EMS.
00:20:13.485 --> 00:20:18.985
But, you know, part of what I want to do here is get the public and give them
00:20:18.985 --> 00:20:23.185
some knowledge as to is we're not just sitting around a fire station watching TV.
00:20:23.445 --> 00:20:26.305
You know, there's training going on and everything.
00:20:27.725 --> 00:20:33.745
So, but you, so the specialty units, the fire marshals, the boats,
00:20:33.925 --> 00:20:36.845
can you go to one of those units right out of the academy?
00:20:37.385 --> 00:20:43.505
You can, if you exhibit some of those skills right off the bat.
00:20:43.885 --> 00:20:48.085
Like I said, if you, you know, say you, you're a previous Navy diver or previous
00:20:48.085 --> 00:20:51.605
lifeguard, if you show those skills and, and, you know,
00:20:51.945 --> 00:20:56.205
we can, we may consider putting you at one of those specialty stations because
00:20:56.205 --> 00:21:01.145
the need for somebody with those specialty skills, typically, you know,
00:21:01.505 --> 00:21:07.845
we try to put new recruits into stations where they will exceed in that kind of environment.
00:21:08.145 --> 00:21:13.625
So that's, that's pretty smart. Actually, I'm, I'm sure that's gotta be some new stuff.
00:21:13.745 --> 00:21:16.825
Cause back in the day, you just got stuck somewhere and you had
00:21:16.825 --> 00:21:20.705
to deal with it until you got somewhere else yeah and
00:21:20.705 --> 00:21:25.765
we you know and again we we try to look
00:21:25.765 --> 00:21:30.265
at the the crews as well and we look at the the the recruit and and what type
00:21:30.265 --> 00:21:34.685
of what type of person what type of personality they have and we look at the
00:21:34.685 --> 00:21:40.565
crew and make sure that we can try to line them up best for success because
00:21:40.565 --> 00:21:44.445
that's really what we want ultimately is for them to stay on enjoy the job and
00:21:44.445 --> 00:21:45.505
stay on the job yeah Yeah,
00:21:45.665 --> 00:21:48.785
because if you're at a miserable station, you're not going to like the job and
00:21:48.785 --> 00:21:51.225
you're definitely not going to hang around.
00:21:51.805 --> 00:21:54.885
Correct. All right, Chief, I'm going to give you one shot.
00:21:55.225 --> 00:22:00.185
I want you to give me the best recruiting pitch for the Norfolk Fire and Rescue.
00:22:00.685 --> 00:22:04.205
Tell me what you guys got that other people don't have.
00:22:05.305 --> 00:22:12.305
Well, we've got over 150 years of tradition. That is one of the things that set us up probably most,
00:22:13.103 --> 00:22:17.563
against everybody else. But if you look at the size of the city of Norfolk,
00:22:17.763 --> 00:22:23.863
it is not a very large city, but our call volume is extremely busy.
00:22:24.503 --> 00:22:31.703
And we have just the widest range of emergency calls here in the city.
00:22:31.823 --> 00:22:34.843
We have cruise ships. We have an international airport.
00:22:35.063 --> 00:22:40.023
We have several universities. We have light rail. We have waterways.
00:22:40.463 --> 00:22:43.323
I'm trying to think of what else I can throw at you there that,
00:22:43.543 --> 00:22:47.343
you know, most other cities, we have the largest naval base in the world.
00:22:47.463 --> 00:22:50.443
Now do you guys respond to? We have shipyards. Okay.
00:22:50.763 --> 00:22:52.983
So you do run calls on the Navy base?
00:22:53.343 --> 00:22:57.943
Oh yeah. We, we run, we run as, as a mutual aid with them.
00:22:58.163 --> 00:23:01.703
So if they have, if they have something on the base, we respond on the base
00:23:01.703 --> 00:23:02.883
with them to assist them.
00:23:03.243 --> 00:23:09.283
If there is something off base, but near the base, they will actually respond and assist us.
00:23:09.503 --> 00:23:15.843
Oh, okay. That's cool. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. So we've got such a wide range
00:23:15.843 --> 00:23:24.403
of emergency responses that we need to be ready for that most other cities don't have,
00:23:24.443 --> 00:23:28.123
is what my recruitment pitch would be.
00:23:28.583 --> 00:23:31.563
Well, I'll tell you, and I'm going to back you up on that, Chief.
00:23:31.863 --> 00:23:33.863
There's a lot of tradition with that department.
00:23:34.483 --> 00:23:40.903
And if I could go back and rewind the clock till I was 19, 20 years old,
00:23:41.023 --> 00:23:42.703
I would have went straight to the fire department.
00:23:42.923 --> 00:23:46.703
But then again, they were testing 2,000 people for five jobs.
00:23:46.843 --> 00:23:53.743
And I do want to ask you one thing about firefighting because you guys in Norfolk
00:23:53.743 --> 00:23:59.583
deal with something that most of the cities don't other than maybe Virginia Beach.
00:23:59.903 --> 00:24:04.583
You've got all those high rises down there. What do you guys use if you get
00:24:04.583 --> 00:24:07.083
a fire up high in one of those buildings?
00:24:07.943 --> 00:24:12.543
Well, kind of like 9-11, we take the stairs. We train hard physically.
00:24:12.563 --> 00:24:16.343
We have a fitness program in our department.
00:24:17.323 --> 00:24:22.783
Every fire station has a wide variety of fitness equipment at it to make sure
00:24:22.783 --> 00:24:29.583
that we are ready for high-rise incidents, which what we consider to be low-frequency but high-risk.
00:24:29.723 --> 00:24:35.043
Yeah, I got you, I got you. And so we try to train for that on a constant basis.
00:24:35.263 --> 00:24:42.643
We have quarterly fire drills in high-rise just to keep us up to date on all that.
00:24:42.803 --> 00:24:49.343
But yeah, like you said, they're a challenge, and we try to get through it.
00:24:49.463 --> 00:24:54.023
Well, you know, the reason I asked, I was thinking about that the other day,
00:24:54.063 --> 00:25:00.723
and I remember dad telling me one day, And this was probably hadn't the early
00:25:00.723 --> 00:25:04.643
eighties that Norfolk had come up with the, I guess, you know,
00:25:04.783 --> 00:25:09.903
I guess they were experimenting or something, but they had this thing that they
00:25:09.903 --> 00:25:11.523
were slinging from helicopters.
00:25:12.600 --> 00:25:16.520
Well, that was before my time, but we don't have anything like that.
00:25:16.740 --> 00:25:21.740
I will tell you, we do use drones like most departments, other departments do.
00:25:21.900 --> 00:25:26.760
We do use drones now in our service, but it's not for emergency response.
00:25:27.540 --> 00:25:29.760
Oh, I gotcha. I gotcha. So it
00:25:29.760 --> 00:25:33.460
would be for like an instant commander to be able to monitor a situation.
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:36.980
But yeah, yeah. But as far as it goes, unfortunately,
00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:40.340
it's still the old fashioned fill your
00:25:40.340 --> 00:25:44.400
shoulders your shoulders and tank with equipment and do
00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:47.940
it the old-fashioned way taking the stairs yeah i uh
00:25:47.940 --> 00:25:51.060
and you know you talked about september 11th 9
00:25:51.060 --> 00:25:54.260
11 and i think here's my
00:25:54.260 --> 00:26:00.020
philosophy on why you guys are having a hard time recruiting people back when
00:26:00.020 --> 00:26:03.880
you and i started you remember i don't know if you remember you're old enough
00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:10.420
to remember emergency the tv yes yeah johnny gage and johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto,
00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:12.360
everybody wanted to be a firefighter medic.
00:26:12.620 --> 00:26:19.420
And then Rescue 911 came out and everybody saw how cool it was to run lights and sirens.
00:26:19.780 --> 00:26:24.440
And then September 11th happened and New York City lost 2,000 firefighters.
00:26:25.280 --> 00:26:30.140
And I think that's, I think that also plays a part, but I think a lot of it
00:26:30.140 --> 00:26:37.180
is these, these young folks now, they're not as much into the, to the tradition of it.
00:26:37.180 --> 00:26:43.140
And they can honestly make better money working, you know, with less effort
00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:45.340
than anywhere else. Yeah, I agree.
00:26:45.520 --> 00:26:49.940
And that's it. You know, it's, I've always said, and most first responders,
00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:53.320
I think you'll probably agree, it's a calling.
00:26:53.800 --> 00:26:57.540
You know, it's not a job. It's not a job. It's calling.
00:26:57.740 --> 00:27:02.120
Absolutely. I agree with you. I discovered it late in life because there aren't many people.
00:27:02.800 --> 00:27:09.040
And I started, when I started with the sheriff's office in 2002, The pay was okay.
00:27:09.360 --> 00:27:11.640
I got into it more for the VRS benefits.
00:27:13.040 --> 00:27:19.960
But to put your life on the line for people you don't know, not everybody's going to do that.
00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:23.780
Right. You know, and like you grew up in a firefighter family.
00:27:23.940 --> 00:27:25.440
I grew up in a firefighter family.
00:27:26.060 --> 00:27:29.380
And don't hang up after I sign off. I got a story for you.
00:27:29.860 --> 00:27:34.100
But anyway, Chief, I'm going to wrap this up. It was good talking to you.
00:27:34.100 --> 00:27:37.320
I know we've been playing phone tag and email tag for a couple of weeks,
00:27:37.320 --> 00:27:39.680
and I'm glad we could make this happen.
00:27:40.320 --> 00:27:43.280
Yeah, me too. I appreciate the opportunity. All right. Don't hang up on me.
00:27:43.340 --> 00:27:45.480
I got a little bit of music still going to play, and then I'm going to stop.
00:27:45.580 --> 00:27:48.460
I'll get back to you. All right. Sounds good. Thank you. Thanks, man.
00:27:49.040 --> 00:27:53.140
You have been listening to the First Responders podcast with your host, Brian Miller.
00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:58.300
Please tune in for future episodes of this podcast. Our podcast is dedicated
00:27:58.300 --> 00:28:01.560
to the men and women who serve the public as first responders.
00:28:01.900 --> 00:28:04.140
Thank you. Bye.