August 18, 2025 • 16 mins
What makes someone leave the warmth of the Gulf Coast to lead a fire department in Michigan? For Russell Schoultz, Walker's new Fire Chief, it was the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in a community that immediately felt like home.
Chief Schoultz brings an impressive 34-year public safety career to Walker, including extensive experience with hurricane response, disaster management, and leading statewide operations in Louisiana. But it's his fresh perspective on community safety that stands out most in this candid conversation. "The only thing I have learned in 34 years is how much I don't know," he reflects, demonstrating the humility that guides his leadership approach.
Throughout our discussion, Schoultz shares powerful insights drawn from decades on the frontlines. Perhaps most sobering is his observation that in his extensive career responding to fatal fires, he's "yet to be on a fatal fire that had a working smoke detector where the people were not disabled." This stark reality drives his passion for community risk reduction – shifting focus from merely responding to emergencies to preventing them altogether.
The conversation reveals ambitious plans for Walker's fire service, including expanded staffing with career firefighters to support the dedicated paid-on-call members, community CPR training initiatives, and innovative approaches to disaster preparedness. Schoultz speaks with genuine admiration about Walker's existing firefighters and the seamless collaboration between city departments that ensures public safety.
Whether you're curious about emergency services, considering a career in firefighting, or simply want to understand how our community stays protected, this conversation offers valuable perspective from someone who's seen it all. Check out the City of Walker Fire Department's social media or visit walkercity.com/fire to learn more about fire safety programs and opportunities to serve.
If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we're welcoming a new leader to fill a vital
role in the city of Walker.
Russell Schultz is our new firechief for the Walker Fire
Department.
From protecting property andlives to inspiring a new
generation of firefighters, weare so grateful to have you in
the city.
Thank you so much for beinghere on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
All right, and many folks may have known, seen the
news of your arrival here.
But for those who aren't quitesure of your background and such
, why don't you give us thatextensive background that you
have?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, I have 34 years in public safety and that
includes the entire 34 years inthe fire service and around 20
of those doing law enforcementas well.
So the only thing I havelearned in 34 years is how much
I don't know.
So it seems like the more thatI do this, the longer that I do
it, the more training andeducation that I get, the more I
(00:51):
realize that I don't know and Ireally want to learn more.
So I started on the MississippiGulf Coast and it's hard to say
some of these years becauseit's been so long ago in the
early 90s, very early 90s, andas a firefighter in a small
beach town.
And so as my I eventually wentto a larger place where I
retired from Harrison County,which is in Gulfport, where
(01:13):
Gulfport and Biloxi is right onthe beach in Mississippi.
So I retired.
I had 30 years when I retired,so at that point I had some I
couldn't leave the area for some, you know, personal issues and
family issues going on.
So I went to Louisiana where Ihad an awesome opportunity to
work for the state firemarshal's office to serve as the
deputy chief, so basicallyoverseeing statewide operations.
(01:37):
It included emergency response,investigations and code
enforcement and state firetraining and code enforcement
and state fire training.
And then you know, when we getto a point in your life where
you're like, okay, there's agoal.
The only goal that I really hadleft to accomplish was being a
fire chief.
So I started looking and I knewthat I only wanted to work in a
(01:58):
place that was smaller, that Icould know people, that I could
become connected to thecommunity, and connected to the
not just the community membersbut the fire department members
as well.
And so, you know, I lookedthrough dozens and dozens of
jobs and just none of themreally attracted me.
And so once I, when I found the, I saw the Walker job and I
(02:19):
started looking at it, lookingat the community.
You know, it's interesting.
I probably would have neverwritten Michigan on a list, a
short list of places, five yearsago, right, and now that I'm
here, I realize that this isprobably the best opportunity
that I've had in my 34-yearcareer, just because of how
welcoming the community is andthe people are here.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, and you know, sometimes folks, you know we
live here, we've been here allof our lives maybe, and we can
kind of overlook what makes thecommunity special you with an
outside perspective, able tocome across the country, and you
see that right here.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's interesting when you make a move like this, you
think about it, and I alwayswanted to do something like this
.
You never really think aboutwhat would concern you, so when
I got ready to make the jump, itreally wasn't the job.
I'm very confident that I'vedone this my entire life, so the
job is, to some degree, naturalto do.
It's always the anxiety point,the pain point, if you will, is
(03:13):
how are the people going to be,how are they going to work with
that?
You're going to live around andyou know unbelievable that
quickly almost.
I immediately felt like I'dbeen here for years.
I mean it's a very natural fitthe City of Walker and the whole
West Michigan area.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Wonderful.
We love to hear that.
We're grateful that you're here, coming from a region where you
do see some pretty big eventsweather events, you've got
hurricanes and such and thencoming to a place like you know,
michigan Walker, what are someof the things that you can
actually kind of bring and putimplement into this place?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Sure.
So it is sort of interesting.
You know where I retired fromMississippi Gulf Coast, and in
Louisiana it seems like we havesome kind of disaster, even
larger disasters, pretty often,and so some of that includes
hurricanes, flooding, even stuffthat you know, large accidents
and chemical spills and thosekind of things.
So what that does for yourcommunity and for your agency is
(04:17):
it keeps you on your toes.
You realize that when you dothis training, it can, really it
can happen, because it doeshappen.
Then, when you come to a place,thankfully, that doesn't
experience as many disasters,what you have to be able to do
is work into the system, is notallow complacency to get into
the community.
And it's not just the agency,it's the community, the
community members.
So when they hear things aboutpreparedness, about, you know,
(04:38):
checking your smoke detector ormaking sure you have a community
or, I'm sorry, disasterreadiness bag and those kind of
things, well, I, if you have acommunity or, I'm sorry,
disaster readiness bag and thosekind of things, well, I've
never had to use one, so whywould I need to make sure that
all this stuff is there?
Well, I can tell you for aplace that does have these kind
of issues if you don't and youget caught off guard.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
you know that the it can be pretty yeah, pretty
challenging if you're not readyyeah, I can only imagine that
and you are very big onpreparedness and outward safety
for the community and stuff andeducation as well.
You've been through a few callsalready and fire safety being
prepared smoke detectors that'sreally big on your radar.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, it's interesting as you go through
your career.
So when you first start outdoing this, really what you're
enamored by are the calls, theexcitement, the adrenaline.
And sure, that's when you firststart.
But as you go through yourcareer and you spend decades
seeing people lose everythingthat they have and in some cases
lose their life because they'renot ready that now, as a fire
(05:37):
chief, I can tell you that myfocus is community risk
reduction.
Our goal is to be reduced torisk.
Where we don't have those callsin the community, we don't have
preventable.
You know, there's sometimesjust things occur, but a lot of
these disasters or a lot ofthese fires, and these I think
are preventable and maybe youcan't prevent the actual event
from occurring.
We can prevent some of the lossand so things like a smoke
(05:59):
detector just having a smokedetector I unfortunately have
been on.
Many dozens of people have losttheir life in fires.
I have yet to be on a fatalfire that had a working smoke
detector where the people werenot disabled.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Okay, wow, very important, and you've already
done some messaging.
You get that out through socialmedia.
That's a big one as well.
What are some of the goals thatyou have for the city of
Walker's fire department,especially coming here?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, one of the goals is, like I just alluded to
, we want to expand ourcommunity risk reduction, not
just fires.
So you look at things like CPRin communities that have very
aggressive public CPR campaigns.
We know that when someone has aheart attack or someone stops
breathing in a public place,that their chance of survival.
Members are signed up inOctober to go to CPR training,
(06:50):
cpr instructor training, rather,and we want to start late in
the fall, in the winter, havingcommunity CPR classes, anything
we can do to better prepare thecommunity to take care of itself
until we arrive.
It's a team approach and itstarts the second.
(07:11):
Something happens.
So community risk reduction is ahuge focus of ours and we're
going to continue to expand that.
So community risk reduction isa huge focus of ours and we're
going to continue to expand thatOn the firefighting side, on
the fire suppression side,expanding our staffing so that
we're a combination firedepartment.
What that means is we've got acouple different models of
staffing that provide service tothe community, one of which is
(07:32):
our paid-on-call members, one ofwhich is our paid-on-call
members.
These are people that haveregular jobs, not at the fire
department, but they givetremendous time to the community
to prepare, to train and to goto calls, and that happens in
the middle of the night.
While we're asleep gettingready for our job the next day,
(07:53):
these folks are out there givingtheir time to go to emergencies
and then have to go to theirjob the next day.
So to help them we're going toput career staff in the fire
stations.
Starting October the 4th, We'llhave two of our three fire
stations and then over the nextcouple years our goal is to
expand those numbers, to reducethe burden on the paid-on-call
staff.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, wonderful, and that is something that they
really do.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Step up they give a lot for themselves and it is a
big sacrifice, but folks likethat are still needed.
That's been one of the mostimpressive groups of people I've
met since I've been here, andthey don't say no.
So whatever the task is,whatever the question is, the
answer is yes.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
from them, yes yeah, and they work hard, and I think
that was one of the things thatwe saw during your interview too
is you're just like pumping upthe fire department.
You know what they do isimportant the work that they do,
and just kind of reminding themthat they're crucial for this
community.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Well, it's always interesting when you talk to
people before and then you talkto people after.
They need the services of thefire department.
Most people honestly, don'tthink about the fire department.
It's there, but they don'tthink about it until they really
need it.
I had a personal experiencewhich was sort of interesting.
There's a guy out there namedBrandon LaFontaine who is now a
(09:10):
lieutenant with the firedepartment of the Mississippi
Gulf Coast.
Well, he was my first pediatriccardiac arrest safe.
He got electrocuted when he wasseven years old, and his mom,
who I'm sitting in contact withthem.
But his mom told an interestingstory that she actually would
pass the fire station and seepeople working out and grilling
out.
She's like, what are they doingthere?
(09:30):
You know they're working outand then you know, here it is.
A couple months later she calls911.
We arrive where I come from,we're paramedics and we um, you
know, we resuscitated her sonand she's like I never thought
about the fire department untilI really needed it and so we
want to.
We want to do as a firedepartment, we want to make sure
people know that we're here24-7.
(09:52):
Whatever the problem is, itdoesn't be a fire, it could be a
medical call, you'd be trappedin a car a a flood.
We've got the resources, wehave the training and we're here
to provide the service to thecommunity.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, and what do you think you want people to know
about the men and women behindthe Walker Fire Department?
Maybe any misconceptions?
But just so that they knowthese are who are in their
community.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, once again, like I said before, I was beyond
impressed with the quality ofpeople that are here serving the
citizens of Walker, and it'snot just the fire department.
The fire department isunbelievable, but you know we
work with the police department.
The collaboration between thepolice and fire unbelievable.
When you go to the public worksdepartment and you know a lot
(10:34):
of people, they see fire trucksand police cars but they don't
realize that when they get thoseservices, there's maintenance
people that are taking care ofthe vehicles, there's human
resources, people that aremaking sure the fire and the
police and all these people arehired appropriately and they're
paid and all of those thingsthat they need.
So there's this massive networkof folks behind the scenes that
(10:55):
make sure the community getsthe services they need.
I've been very, we've been veryfortunate to have, in my short
time here, a great relationshipwith the city commission and the
mayor.
Everybody wants the communityto have the services they need,
even though you may not evenknow what you actually need yet,
right, but when the time comes,those services are there within
(11:17):
a couple of minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yes, I know that is one of Mayor Carey's big pillars
is public safety.
It's very important to ourcommunity.
They really respect the men andwomen in red and blue, so that
is something that's veryimportant to our community.
What are some of the things?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
have you gotten to get out a little bit in the
community and do things on yourown or for fun, and One of the
things that we've been sort ofimpressed with is the food is
not as bad as I thought it wouldbe yes, yes, right, coming from
the south, where you know,we've got pretty good food down
there.
It's actually been pretty good.
Actually, the wet burrito isnot bad at all.
We've gotten to do day tripsover to like Grand Haven and
(11:58):
Ludington and those kind ofplaces.
The area is beyond beautiful.
I mean we really it's.
It's.
You know, people are missingout they don't come to michigan
and check it out.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yes, you know, of course you know you're used to
big bodies of water with thesalt of the ocean and such, but
our lakes are pretty impressiveas well, it's very it's.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
It's not.
It's way way more impressivethan I thought it was gonna be.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, it's awesome to hear that.
And um, winters you're nostranger to Winters.
I believe you were mentioning,when we were talking off camera,
that down south you guys had togo through a blizzard just
recently.
We actually had a blizzard thispast January.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And my time in the military.
They would send us to Alpena,michigan, or Volkville,
wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I can tell you that Alpena is much prettier than
Volkville, wisconsin.
Yes, I lived there, I know.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, it's very pretty and, uh, actually, one of
the big draws for coming uphere is actually getting four
seasons, yes, and not havingfour months of 110 degree heat
indexes yes, yes, that will besomething that uh you and your
family will be welcome to haveso anything you're looking
forward to do in winter that youmay have not had a chance
Snowmobiling, so I've done it inColorado.
That is something that we'revery excited about.
(13:08):
Snowmobiling, All right Wellwonderful.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We hope we have a good winter for you guys in
order to take advantage of that.
So if there are some folksbefore we leave who are
interested in wanting to step upand see what it's like to
become a firefighter paid oncall firefighter what are the
process to go through that andhow can they get involved?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Sure, so we have those.
We have positions open rightnow, through the middle of the
month, the middle of August.
We it's an application processand then after that, for the
paid on call, there is aresidency requirement that you
live three and a half miles fromone of the fire stations, one
of the firehouses which mostanywhere in Walker.
You're three and a half milesfrom one of the firehouses and
then, once you do that, we bringpeople in, tell them exactly
(13:45):
what to expect from the position.
It's not like it is on TV, it'svery different actually.
And so we spend some time goingover the reality of that job.
They have to take a physicalabilities test and you know,
background check and those typethings.
And then they go to the fireacademy.
We pay for them to go, we paidthem and pay for them to go to
the fire Academy actually startsthe last weekend of October.
(14:05):
And so the other good thingabout the paid on call if you're
interested in doing it as acareer, it's a great chance for
you to get a glimpse at thereality of the job.
And so, yeah, this is for me orno, this is not really for me.
We have been very fortunate tohire most of our folks in the
(14:30):
paid on call staff.
We all get to try each otherout.
We get to sort of make sure ifwe're all good fit for one
another, and I feel like that is.
A huge benefit of the paid oncall program is allowing people
to get in and take a look at thebusiness.
Let the business take a look atthem and see if it's a good fit
.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Sorry, well, wonderful, we're very excited to
have you.
It's been a few weeks or so sofar, but looking for great
things to come, so thank you somuch, Chief.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Thank you for having me.
Thank you again and for moreinformation.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Of course you can go onto the social media page the
City of Walker's fire departmentand also walkercity slash fire.
Get all of your information.
Well, we're welcoming a new leader to fill a vital
role in the city of Walker.
Russell Schultz is our new firechief for the Walker Fire
Department.
From protecting property andlives to inspiring a new
generation of firefighters, weare so grateful to have you in
the city.
Thank you so much for beinghere on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
All right, and many folks may have known, seen the
news of your arrival here.
But for those who aren't quitesure of your background and such
, why don't you give us thatextensive background that you
have?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, I have 34 years in public safety and that
includes the entire 34 years inthe fire service and around 20
of those doing law enforcementas well.
So the only thing I havelearned in 34 years is how much
I don't know.
So it seems like the more thatI do this, the longer that I do
it, the more training andeducation that I get, the more I
(00:51):
realize that I don't know and Ireally want to learn more.
So I started on the MississippiGulf Coast and it's hard to say
some of these years becauseit's been so long ago in the
early 90s, very early 90s, andas a firefighter in a small
beach town.
And so as my I eventually wentto a larger place where I
retired from Harrison County,which is in Gulfport, where
(01:13):
Gulfport and Biloxi is right onthe beach in Mississippi.
So I retired.
I had 30 years when I retired,so at that point I had some I
couldn't leave the area for some, you know, personal issues and
family issues going on.
So I went to Louisiana where Ihad an awesome opportunity to
work for the state firemarshal's office to serve as the
deputy chief, so basicallyoverseeing statewide operations.
(01:37):
It included emergency response,investigations and code
enforcement and state firetraining and code enforcement
and state fire training.
And then you know, when we getto a point in your life where
you're like, okay, there's agoal.
The only goal that I really hadleft to accomplish was being a
fire chief.
So I started looking and I knewthat I only wanted to work in a
(01:58):
place that was smaller, that Icould know people, that I could
become connected to thecommunity, and connected to the
not just the community membersbut the fire department members
as well.
And so, you know, I lookedthrough dozens and dozens of
jobs and just none of themreally attracted me.
And so once I, when I found the, I saw the Walker job and I
(02:19):
started looking at it, lookingat the community.
You know, it's interesting.
I probably would have neverwritten Michigan on a list, a
short list of places, five yearsago, right, and now that I'm
here, I realize that this isprobably the best opportunity
that I've had in my 34-yearcareer, just because of how
welcoming the community is andthe people are here.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, and you know, sometimes folks, you know we
live here, we've been here allof our lives maybe, and we can
kind of overlook what makes thecommunity special you with an
outside perspective, able tocome across the country, and you
see that right here.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's interesting when you make a move like this, you
think about it, and I alwayswanted to do something like this
.
You never really think aboutwhat would concern you, so when
I got ready to make the jump, itreally wasn't the job.
I'm very confident that I'vedone this my entire life, so the
job is, to some degree, naturalto do.
It's always the anxiety point,the pain point, if you will, is
(03:13):
how are the people going to be,how are they going to work with
that?
You're going to live around andyou know unbelievable that
quickly almost.
I immediately felt like I'dbeen here for years.
I mean it's a very natural fitthe City of Walker and the whole
West Michigan area.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Wonderful.
We love to hear that.
We're grateful that you're here, coming from a region where you
do see some pretty big eventsweather events, you've got
hurricanes and such and thencoming to a place like you know,
michigan Walker, what are someof the things that you can
actually kind of bring and putimplement into this place?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Sure.
So it is sort of interesting.
You know where I retired fromMississippi Gulf Coast, and in
Louisiana it seems like we havesome kind of disaster, even
larger disasters, pretty often,and so some of that includes
hurricanes, flooding, even stuffthat you know, large accidents
and chemical spills and thosekind of things.
So what that does for yourcommunity and for your agency is
(04:17):
it keeps you on your toes.
You realize that when you dothis training, it can, really it
can happen, because it doeshappen.
Then, when you come to a place,thankfully, that doesn't
experience as many disasters,what you have to be able to do
is work into the system, is notallow complacency to get into
the community.
And it's not just the agency,it's the community, the
community members.
So when they hear things aboutpreparedness, about, you know,
(04:38):
checking your smoke detector ormaking sure you have a community
or, I'm sorry, disasterreadiness bag and those kind of
things, well, I, if you have acommunity or, I'm sorry,
disaster readiness bag and thosekind of things, well, I've
never had to use one, so whywould I need to make sure that
all this stuff is there?
Well, I can tell you for aplace that does have these kind
of issues if you don't and youget caught off guard.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
you know that the it can be pretty yeah, pretty
challenging if you're not readyyeah, I can only imagine that
and you are very big onpreparedness and outward safety
for the community and stuff andeducation as well.
You've been through a few callsalready and fire safety being
prepared smoke detectors that'sreally big on your radar.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, it's interesting as you go through
your career.
So when you first start outdoing this, really what you're
enamored by are the calls, theexcitement, the adrenaline.
And sure, that's when you firststart.
But as you go through yourcareer and you spend decades
seeing people lose everythingthat they have and in some cases
lose their life because they'renot ready that now, as a fire
(05:37):
chief, I can tell you that myfocus is community risk
reduction.
Our goal is to be reduced torisk.
Where we don't have those callsin the community, we don't have
preventable.
You know, there's sometimesjust things occur, but a lot of
these disasters or a lot ofthese fires, and these I think
are preventable and maybe youcan't prevent the actual event
from occurring.
We can prevent some of the lossand so things like a smoke
(05:59):
detector just having a smokedetector I unfortunately have
been on.
Many dozens of people have losttheir life in fires.
I have yet to be on a fatalfire that had a working smoke
detector where the people werenot disabled.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Okay, wow, very important, and you've already
done some messaging.
You get that out through socialmedia.
That's a big one as well.
What are some of the goals thatyou have for the city of
Walker's fire department,especially coming here?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, one of the goals is, like I just alluded to
, we want to expand ourcommunity risk reduction, not
just fires.
So you look at things like CPRin communities that have very
aggressive public CPR campaigns.
We know that when someone has aheart attack or someone stops
breathing in a public place,that their chance of survival.
Members are signed up inOctober to go to CPR training,
(06:50):
cpr instructor training, rather,and we want to start late in
the fall, in the winter, havingcommunity CPR classes, anything
we can do to better prepare thecommunity to take care of itself
until we arrive.
It's a team approach and itstarts the second.
(07:11):
Something happens.
So community risk reduction is ahuge focus of ours and we're
going to continue to expand that.
So community risk reduction isa huge focus of ours and we're
going to continue to expand thatOn the firefighting side, on
the fire suppression side,expanding our staffing so that
we're a combination firedepartment.
What that means is we've got acouple different models of
staffing that provide service tothe community, one of which is
(07:32):
our paid-on-call members, one ofwhich is our paid-on-call
members.
These are people that haveregular jobs, not at the fire
department, but they givetremendous time to the community
to prepare, to train and to goto calls, and that happens in
the middle of the night.
While we're asleep gettingready for our job the next day,
(07:53):
these folks are out there givingtheir time to go to emergencies
and then have to go to theirjob the next day.
So to help them we're going toput career staff in the fire
stations.
Starting October the 4th, We'llhave two of our three fire
stations and then over the nextcouple years our goal is to
expand those numbers, to reducethe burden on the paid-on-call
staff.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, wonderful, and that is something that they
really do.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Step up they give a lot for themselves and it is a
big sacrifice, but folks likethat are still needed.
That's been one of the mostimpressive groups of people I've
met since I've been here, andthey don't say no.
So whatever the task is,whatever the question is, the
answer is yes.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
from them, yes yeah, and they work hard, and I think
that was one of the things thatwe saw during your interview too
is you're just like pumping upthe fire department.
You know what they do isimportant the work that they do,
and just kind of reminding themthat they're crucial for this
community.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Well, it's always interesting when you talk to
people before and then you talkto people after.
They need the services of thefire department.
Most people honestly, don'tthink about the fire department.
It's there, but they don'tthink about it until they really
need it.
I had a personal experiencewhich was sort of interesting.
There's a guy out there namedBrandon LaFontaine who is now a
(09:10):
lieutenant with the firedepartment of the Mississippi
Gulf Coast.
Well, he was my first pediatriccardiac arrest safe.
He got electrocuted when he wasseven years old, and his mom,
who I'm sitting in contact withthem.
But his mom told an interestingstory that she actually would
pass the fire station and seepeople working out and grilling
out.
She's like, what are they doingthere?
(09:30):
You know they're working outand then you know, here it is.
A couple months later she calls911.
We arrive where I come from,we're paramedics and we um, you
know, we resuscitated her sonand she's like I never thought
about the fire department untilI really needed it and so we
want to.
We want to do as a firedepartment, we want to make sure
people know that we're here24-7.
(09:52):
Whatever the problem is, itdoesn't be a fire, it could be a
medical call, you'd be trappedin a car a a flood.
We've got the resources, wehave the training and we're here
to provide the service to thecommunity.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, and what do you think you want people to know
about the men and women behindthe Walker Fire Department?
Maybe any misconceptions?
But just so that they knowthese are who are in their
community.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, once again, like I said before, I was beyond
impressed with the quality ofpeople that are here serving the
citizens of Walker, and it'snot just the fire department.
The fire department isunbelievable, but you know we
work with the police department.
The collaboration between thepolice and fire unbelievable.
When you go to the public worksdepartment and you know a lot
(10:34):
of people, they see fire trucksand police cars but they don't
realize that when they get thoseservices, there's maintenance
people that are taking care ofthe vehicles, there's human
resources, people that aremaking sure the fire and the
police and all these people arehired appropriately and they're
paid and all of those thingsthat they need.
So there's this massive networkof folks behind the scenes that
(10:55):
make sure the community getsthe services they need.
I've been very, we've been veryfortunate to have, in my short
time here, a great relationshipwith the city commission and the
mayor.
Everybody wants the communityto have the services they need,
even though you may not evenknow what you actually need yet,
right, but when the time comes,those services are there within
(11:17):
a couple of minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yes, I know that is one of Mayor Carey's big pillars
is public safety.
It's very important to ourcommunity.
They really respect the men andwomen in red and blue, so that
is something that's veryimportant to our community.
What are some of the things?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
have you gotten to get out a little bit in the
community and do things on yourown or for fun, and One of the
things that we've been sort ofimpressed with is the food is
not as bad as I thought it wouldbe yes, yes, right, coming from
the south, where you know,we've got pretty good food down
there.
It's actually been pretty good.
Actually, the wet burrito isnot bad at all.
We've gotten to do day tripsover to like Grand Haven and
(11:58):
Ludington and those kind ofplaces.
The area is beyond beautiful.
I mean we really it's.
It's.
You know, people are missingout they don't come to michigan
and check it out.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yes, you know, of course you know you're used to
big bodies of water with thesalt of the ocean and such, but
our lakes are pretty impressiveas well, it's very it's.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
It's not.
It's way way more impressivethan I thought it was gonna be.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, it's awesome to hear that.
And um, winters you're nostranger to Winters.
I believe you were mentioning,when we were talking off camera,
that down south you guys had togo through a blizzard just
recently.
We actually had a blizzard thispast January.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And my time in the military.
They would send us to Alpena,michigan, or Volkville,
wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I can tell you that Alpena is much prettier than
Volkville, wisconsin.
Yes, I lived there, I know.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, it's very pretty and, uh, actually, one of
the big draws for coming uphere is actually getting four
seasons, yes, and not havingfour months of 110 degree heat
indexes yes, yes, that will besomething that uh you and your
family will be welcome to haveso anything you're looking
forward to do in winter that youmay have not had a chance
Snowmobiling, so I've done it inColorado.
That is something that we'revery excited about.
(13:08):
Snowmobiling, All right Wellwonderful.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We hope we have a good winter for you guys in
order to take advantage of that.
So if there are some folksbefore we leave who are
interested in wanting to step upand see what it's like to
become a firefighter paid oncall firefighter what are the
process to go through that andhow can they get involved?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Sure, so we have those.
We have positions open rightnow, through the middle of the
month, the middle of August.
We it's an application processand then after that, for the
paid on call, there is aresidency requirement that you
live three and a half miles fromone of the fire stations, one
of the firehouses which mostanywhere in Walker.
You're three and a half milesfrom one of the firehouses and
then, once you do that, we bringpeople in, tell them exactly
(13:45):
what to expect from the position.
It's not like it is on TV, it'svery different actually.
And so we spend some time goingover the reality of that job.
They have to take a physicalabilities test and you know,
background check and those typethings.
And then they go to the fireacademy.
We pay for them to go, we paidthem and pay for them to go to
the fire Academy actually startsthe last weekend of October.
(14:05):
And so the other good thingabout the paid on call if you're
interested in doing it as acareer, it's a great chance for
you to get a glimpse at thereality of the job.
And so, yeah, this is for me orno, this is not really for me.
We have been very fortunate tohire most of our folks in the
(14:30):
paid on call staff.
We all get to try each otherout.
We get to sort of make sure ifwe're all good fit for one
another, and I feel like that is.
A huge benefit of the paid oncall program is allowing people
to get in and take a look at thebusiness.
Let the business take a look atthem and see if it's a good fit
.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Sorry, well, wonderful, we're very excited to
have you.
It's been a few weeks or so sofar, but looking for great
things to come, so thank you somuch, Chief.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Thank you for having me.
Thank you again and for moreinformation.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Of course you can go onto the social media page the
City of Walker's fire departmentand also walkercity slash fire.
Get all of your information.
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