Episode 16 - Fire Marshall

Today we interview Terrence Dunn, a Fire Marshall.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello! Welcome to the Career is for Kids podcast for kids learn careers. This is Maxwell Valencia

(00:10):
and this is Henry Morrison and today we have Terrence, a fire marshal. Hello Mr Dunn, thank
you for spending your time with Beyond Career is for Kids. We hope we have a great interview.
Now let's get started! It's really nice that we get them to review. Like, out of all the
people, we never interviewed someone who would be fired. Yeah, like in the law, but just

(00:35):
someone who works in like this category, if you know what I mean. I'm excited that you
guys chose me and I'm happy you're here today on this dreary day. I got out in the wind
waiting out there. Tell us what you currently do right now. So currently I am the fire marshal
for the town of Westport. I have been coming up on two years. That's really cool. And here's

(01:04):
a question. Yep, so tell us more about your career and how you got to this position. So
I started my career with the fire department as a firefighter back in 2003 and you know
I was on the line going to calls on the fire trucks and stuff and I enjoyed that but I
was going to school at University of New Haven and I was going for a bachelor's of science

(01:25):
for fire investigation and I always found that to be interesting and it kind of led
me down this career path. So in 2009, how it works here in the fire department, you
have to take a promotional test, which is a written test, an interview and I put my
time in and I studied really hard and I came out number one. So back in September of 2009,

(01:46):
I got promoted to a fire inspector, which does fire inspections out in the public and
fire investigations and then I did that until 2022 and then I was luckily appointed fire
marshal back in June of 2022 and here we are today. My boyfriend gave me a lesson that

(02:08):
working hard can be the great outcome. It just pays off in the end. It does and education
and putting your time in and studying and doing well does pay off. So living testament
to that. And what part of your job do you enjoy the most and dislike the most? So the
part I like the most is making the town of Westport a safer place for not only those

(02:31):
who reside here but all those who work and visit on a daily basis. You know and we do
that through fire inspections of all the buildings to make sure that they're safe and that people
can't get out. They have to. And I guess the most interesting aspect of my job is fire
investigations because it's a scientific process and you have to piece together fires and more

(02:59):
specifically like arson fires. They're criminal. There's a criminal aspect to it. You know,
it's a crime to start a fire and they're the most difficult to prove because we're actually
destroying evidence. So when we go in we don't always have a lot to look at. We have to piece
it all back together and use a scientific method to put it back together to come to

(03:21):
a hypothesis and conclusion openly. The part I like least is sometimes dealing with the
public is not always the most easiest thing. You know, when we go out and do a fire inspection
sometimes we have to chase people down to fix things. You know, these things in the long
run are very important. They're life safety issues and not everybody sees that aspect.

(03:42):
They just see that we're kind of crossing the line.
Yeah, they don't always think about themselves or other people in the case of an emergency
and on the flat floor most people say, oh that will never happen. Stuff like that. I mean,
you've got to be prepared. Yeah, and in our line of work we kind of look at the worst
that can happen and we try to prevent it. That's a big right.
Luckily, the town of Westport here, we've been pretty safe in town here so we are very

(04:14):
diligent on fire prevention. Very safe town.
So you try to really help the cities?
Yeah, I mean even like Goll, Southwest, you know, New York cities, I mean they have pretty
good like, you know, police fire departments, stuff like that because it's like a huge city
but like definitely not as safe as here.

(04:36):
No, New York City's had a real flux of fatal fires since January 1st. And there's a lot
of different reasons why and a lot of them, you know, hopefully the codes will evolve
and change and make it safer.
And also if you go like a bit like, you know, like Jesus, he's in New York City,

(04:57):
he's in a country that's almost like a colony.
And there's a lot of people who are like, you know, they're too particular and they're
all over the place.
Yeah, and summers in Connecticut, yeah, very tragic. And even Connecticut here, since January
1st, we've had somewhere in the area of 17, maybe 18, fire deaths.
Wasn't there like a wildfire going around like the lime area?

(05:21):
There might have been, you know, and right now we're in that time where there's a lot
of dead, new growth has not taken place yet. So there's a lot of dead vegetation on the
ground from the fall and stuff and that tends to be very dry.
So the fire danger recently has been high. So people got to be very careful with camp
fires and sparklers and such outside.

(05:43):
Yeah, so like, was this a dream job you imagined yourself doing when you were a kid?
It was. Back when I was a little boy, my grandmother lived across the street from the firehouse.
So whenever I went there and she babysat me, I always dragged her across the street.
And my favorite part was sitting in the fire truck and going down the pole.
I actually used to, when I lived in Harlem, I actually used to live on the same street

(06:07):
as like a firehouse. And they would always let me sit in the fire truck, so I was obsessed
with that stuff.
Yeah, I was too as a kid and I just knew my father was a police officer. He came up from
the whole family of police officers and I deviated and went this route.
And it's been very rewarding. It was my dream job and I'm doing what I love to do.

(06:29):
You're doing your dream?
It's almost like not even going to work. It's work.

(06:50):
So we used to come to the schools and do fire prevention. We had a trailer, a mock-up trailer
with a bedroom where we would create fake smoke and teach the kids to do fire prevention
two ways out.
I remember some little things, like not where you brought fake smoke in or anything. I don't
remember that.

(07:11):
I remember that.
As long as I lived here.
And who were you playing with?
I had two main idols when I was growing up. They were both sports figures. Michael Jordan
was big. He was one of my big idols. And Don Mattingly, the first baseman for the Yankees,
I think are two of my main idols.

(07:34):
So you were still by big pushy feet?
Yeah, I was a big sports fan. I still am.
You did the best in their category. I think that's what a lot of people want to do.
Why did you pick this job? What made you do this? I know it was your dream job as a kid.

(07:56):
Why was it?
I think the biggest thing is helping others. The fire service, we're putting our life on
the line to help others. I find that very rewarding. I think that my counterparts here
at the fire station would say the same. It's helping people in time of need. There's something

(08:19):
rewarding to us. It's an exciting career. I'm not stuck behind a desk.
You're not on the fire truck anymore.
It's a totally different aspect of the job. Being on the line, being a firefighter is physically

(08:41):
demanding and challenging. No two calls are the same. There's a challenging side to it.
You've got to be on your toes. I always found that very intriguing.
That's what let me do.

(09:05):
You never know. When the tones go off in the fire station, you don't know if it's going
to be a medical call, a car accident, public service calls. You never know what call you're
going to get. Or when. You could run 10 calls in a row back to back. Then you have a little
downtime. In the station, there's plenty of busy work. We're very big on training. It's

(09:29):
just like sports. You've got to train, otherwise become rusty on different skills. Even when
I started 20 years ago, there's so many different aspects now and different tools. Between extra
car executions and EMS calls, there's so many different aspects that you need to keep up
on. You've got to train.

(09:57):
I think the biggest highlight of my career was being appointed fire marshal. I never
thought I would make it to this position. When I first got to the Westport Fire Department,
I was a very small department. There were a lot of people here for a long time. It didn't
seem to me as a young 21 year old that I'd have much room to advance or that I'd ever

(10:19):
in my career make it this far. But things changed. The department changed and here I
am. So definitely the biggest highlight was being appointed fire marshal.
What are the biggest challenges that you think can be solved by our generation that you would
want us to solve for you?

(10:40):
One of the biggest challenges to the fire service right now is the cancer pandemic.
We have lost several members here at fairly young ages from occupational cancer. We've
made a lot of changes on the way we do things and our policies and procedures. So we're

(11:03):
becoming more in tune with the risks that are presented to us. Not only the different
things we're breathing in, our gear, our fire gear, and how things are absorbed to our skin,
but hopefully someday someone can find a cure for cancer and help prolong our lives so that

(11:29):
we can be there for our families.
Yeah, cancer is like the second most common death in the US.
Yeah, and as I say, to help the fire service, even just help our population in general.
There's so many young people nowadays losing their lives too early to cancer.

(11:50):
And you guys save lives.
We do save lives and we lost some people, firefighters at a young age. They leave behind
wives and children.
Definitely something that needs to be looked at even more. It's just got to be so devastating

(12:12):
to lose someone. One moment they're there and the other moment they aren't. It's just
got to be horrible.
Yeah, and you look at all our technology and everything that we have. Hopefully one day
we can find a cure.

(12:33):
We can take advantage of those technologies and put them together in a way that we can
figure out a cure for cancer. Maybe something better.
More better, yes.
So to become a fire marshal, I mean like anywhere else, you need to start at the bottom

(12:58):
so to speak. So you need to, my advice would be to go to school, get your degree, and then
the next step would be you have to get emergency medical attention, otherwise known as EMT
class, and then you have to take entry level tests to become a firefighter. When you do
your time as a firefighter, you've got to prepare for a professional test and do that

(13:27):
and hopefully promote yourself up the chain so to speak until you get to the fire marshal
position. That's how it worked my career. It took me almost 20 years. But like I said,
you've got to start at the bottom, work your way up, and work hard.
Yeah, and look what happened. Fire marshal speaking with you today.

(13:50):
So what is your main life advice for kids listening to the podcast?
So I guess my main advice would be to do something or find something for your career that you
enjoy. As I stated before, I really enjoy what I do. And 20 years has flown by. You
blink and it's like 20 years and I'm not visible coming to work because I'm doing something

(14:16):
I like. So my advice is find something in life that you enjoy doing for your career.
And be an honest person and do your part to make the world a better place. That's what
I like about it and that's what I strive to do every day.

(14:37):
Wow. What a thing to do. Thank you so much. You're welcome. I'm sure you'll definitely
do this.
I appreciate that. I appreciate you guys reaching out and I really enjoy this.
So to everyone listening, thanks for listening to the careers for kids podcast. Hope you

(14:59):
enjoyed the episode. See you in the next one. Bye.