July 28, 2025 • 30 mins
Have you ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes at your local fire department? Chief Corey Smedley pulls back the curtain on Montgomery County's Fire and Rescue Service, revealing surprising truths that challenge everything you thought you knew about emergency response.
From practical summer safety tips about barbecuing and AC maintenance to flood preparedness advice, Chief Smedley provides life-saving information every resident should know. His journey from being inspired by his firefighter sister to leading one of the region's largest emergency service departments showcases the power of mentorship and personal growth. Whether you're interested in public safety, leadership principles, or simply want to better understand the evolving role of first responders in your community, this conversation offers valuable insights into the people who work tirelessly to keep Montgomery County safe. Ready to learn more? Visit mcfrs.org to explore resources and career opportunities with the department.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good day and welcome to what's Happening MoCo, an
authentic unscripted podcastfrom your Montgomery County
government.
Now here's your host, derekKenney.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good day and welcome to what's Happening, moco.
Today's episode.
We're talking to the chiefChief, corey Smedley, of Fire
and Rescue, montgomery County,maryland.
Good day, chief.
How are you today?
Wonderful man, thank you forhaving me.
Well, thank you for being heretoday, sir, and, as always, like
to applaud great things in thecounty and we always want to
make sure we applaud our heroes,so I'm going to insert some
(00:38):
applause right here.
Thank you so much for all thatyou do.
I know it's one of those jobsthat's tireless.
I don't want to ask you howmany hours you work a week, but
I'm going to ask you how manyhours does a chief of fire
rescue spend a week serving thecounty?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Oh man, Well over 100 .
Oh wow, Easy OK.
And you know that's that's notaccurate.
that's about well over 100 in atwo-week period okay um, you
know, 10 to 12 hours a day on,on average, is is what I find
myself doing, and then when youget home, it's uh, it.
My brain is always working, soI try to save time for me to
(01:18):
think.
So when I'm at home, I I puttime away so I can think about
things and make sure that Ireflect.
Um, so it's a lot of hours, alot of hours, a lot of hours,
but worth life balance.
This is great, you At home I puttime away so I can think about
things and make sure that Ireflect.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So it's a lot of hours a lot of hours, a lot of
hours, but worth life balance.
This is great.
You take care of yourself soyou can take care of us.
Yep.
And you spend 50 hours a week.
It seems like a lot of time,but speaking of time, you
haven't been with the countyvery long.
You've been in the county for ayear, now A year and two days
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Happy anniversary.
Thank you and applause here.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yes, it's wonderful Over the course of an entire
year.
What things stand out to you asfire and rescue chief about
Montgomery County and the peoplethat you serve.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
A lot of brilliant people in Montgomery County.
I talked to the countyexecutive's office yesterday.
We had our senior managementteam meeting and what I talked
about was how easy thistransition has been, and that's
because of the excellent peoplethat work here, not only from
(02:20):
the people inside theorganization, but my colleagues
in other agencies and the countyexecutive office, as well as
county council.
They have been warm andwelcoming.
I ask a lot of questions, Imake friends quickly and I've
been embraced not only insidethe organization but also in the
(02:41):
community.
So that's really what standsout to me.
It just I've been in three thisis my third jurisdiction now
and all of them have been greatopportunities.
Some of it might be that I'velearned better now and I have an
array of experiences that Ibring with me, but I think just
the welcoming that I've receivedsince I've been here has been
(03:03):
one of the things that I wasthat stands out to me.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's fantastic and I think there's a good segue
there.
So what we try to do isdemystify government and we
don't assume that residents knowthat there's a chief of fire
and rescue and that they knowexactly what he does or even how
he traveled through his careerjourney to get here.
So what was your career journeylike and what do you do as the
(03:29):
chief of fire rescue?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, so I put out other kind of fires on a regular
basis.
You know I'll start with what Ido as a fire chief, then I'll
backtrack to my journey.
Really, as a fire chief, you,you are, um, a supporter, you
are someone.
Right now, we're I'm makingsure we are managing conflict
(03:54):
well.
I'm pushing conflict out in theorganization on purpose.
I'm pushing conflict out in theorganization on purpose because
that's how you innovate, that'show you find new, creative ways
to reinvent yourself.
Um, and, and I'm a supporter,uh, quite often I'm a listener,
uh, I I'm a coach, uh, I, I amsomeone who knocks down barriers
(04:19):
.
Um, I make sure that I leaveroom at tables, I make sure that
I partner with not only myother public safety agencies in
the county but in the region,but also get to know the
community well and understandwhat what they need and what's
(04:40):
important to them.
I'm a researcher, I'm alegislator, I work with budget,
I do infrastructure with we have37 fire stations, but we have
four or five other facilitiesthat we utilize a training
academy, a central maintenancefleet, et cetera.
I am someone that a visionary,so I have to, you know, continue
(05:08):
to.
That's why I told you earliermy I leave time for me to think,
because I'm always trying tofigure out.
How do we?
We reinvent ourselves becauseour mission is constantly
changing, emergencies arechanging this, this cell phone
here this cell phone here, right.
This cell phone doesn't need tobe plugged into anything to
(05:28):
start a fire.
So you know you think ofbeforehand.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You went somewhere totally different than I thought
you were going.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, yeah, it can start a fire.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
A cell phone.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
A cell phone.
Lithium-ion batteries oh wow,we have them everywhere.
We have them in watches, wehave them in phones.
We have them everywhere.
We have them in watches, wehave them in phones, we have
them in vehicles.
They're everywhere.
And so that's a unique kind ofemergency that we didn't start
out.
When I started, 30 years ago,we didn't have to worry about
lithium-ion batteries, and sothere are things that we have to
really be agile and figure out.
(06:00):
How do we continue to keep upwith the changing world around
us?
And so I do all those things asa fire chief, and I do it with
a lot of help.
There's a lot of support aroundfor fire chiefs.
But I'll talk a little bitabout my journey.
So I actually grew up inWashington DC.
Okay.
And I've told this story severaltimes I never interacted with
(06:23):
the fire department growing upin Washington DC, except for two
reasons when the firedepartment came to the school
for career day, you had to playon the fire trucks.
I got to talk to thefirefighters and then in the
summertime they opened up thehydrants and we played in the
water.
Those are the only two memoriesI have of the fire service in
(06:45):
Washington DC.
My parents didn't take me call911.
They just if something happened.
They took me to the hospitaland they cared for me that way.
So I'm the youngest in thebunch.
I have two older sisters, andmy sister that's right next to
(07:07):
me joined the Prince George'sCounty Fire Department in 1989.
And that in itself just got meto pay attention to the fire
service.
I was really proud of my sister.
I was excited about what shewas doing and accomplishing and
I just really got interested inthe fire service.
So my sister was the impetus ofme joining the fire department,
(07:31):
oh wow.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now, when you have the balance of greatness, when
you think about a brother-sisteryou think about Reggie Miller
and his sister, who's anoutstanding basketball player in
her own right, and his sister,who's an outstanding basketball
player in her own right howhow's it feel to be inspired by
a sibling to lead you on to agreat path yourself?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It's wonderful Again I had no experience in a lot of
Montgomery County is acombination system, so they have
volunteers and they have careerin DC.
District of Columbia is allcareer, so there wasn't an
opportunity for me to getexposed to the fire service
through volunteering.
So when I saw my sister, I wentto her graduation.
She talked about training, sheshowed me her equipment.
She let me play with herequipment, or tinker with it,
(08:23):
and I just thought, wow, this issomething great.
You see it on the TV, you see itwhen you're out and about and
you're like my sister does that,and so that really inspired me,
so I felt really proud.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I really I love it when there's stories like this,
where you're inspired by heroesto be a hero yourself, and a lot
of times one of those, I think.
Firefighters and policeofficers and EMS workers,
soldiers all these are thingsthat children idolize, and
(08:56):
rightfully so to be when theygrow up.
And here you are now, the topfirefighter or emergency worker
in the county.
How does that impact the wayyou engage with young people in
the county and even youngerofficers or younger burgeoning
(09:16):
firefighters in their careers?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, that's a.
That's a great question.
Um.
One thing um about this, this,this business it teaches you
that uh, tomorrow's not promisedUm.
So you know, I I forgivequickly Um I uh give grace fast.
Uh, I make sure that I talk topeople um, especially our young
(09:43):
people, and just um demystifythis position so they can
understand that I'm human.
Um, I asked them questions tospark ideas about what they
think they want to be when theygrow up.
Uh, I tell them about the greatthings that the fire service
has for you.
Uh, I tell them that, uh, thatwe welcome you as you are, and
(10:03):
then I give them an opportunityto ask me whatever questions
they want, so that we can builda relationship with each other,
Even if it's a shortconversation.
Certain things in your life,you remember it and you never
know how that can impactsomeone's life in the future.
So I hope that when peopleinteract with me, they say that
(10:27):
I'm approachable, I'm a kindperson and I'm a listener and
really I care about you.
As long as I'm doing that, Ithink I'm doing my job in that
space that I give people anopportunity to think beyond
where they currently are andthat there's an opportunity for
them whatever they want to do inlife.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
All right, now it's.
It's interesting that youmentioned young people and, I
guess, them being inspired andthe considerations you give to
others.
You don't recognize always theimportance of emotional
intelligence.
That's kind of what you'retalking about when you're
talking about providing graceand forgiveness and listening
(11:11):
and being considerate.
How important is the emotionalIQ for the chief of fire and
rescue in?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
the county.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You kind of alluded to it, but when you talk about
the skills that it takes to beone of the top emergency workers
in this region, emotional IQ.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Emotional IQ is one of the most important things to
have in a position like this andin any fire service really.
What I really look for most ischaracter and that competency.
We can teach you how to be aparamedic.
We can teach you how to be afirefighter.
(11:51):
It's hard to teach you to havecharacter.
So I learned that in my journeyand every day.
I make a joke with my executiveofficer on a regular basis.
I say it quite often it'samazing that everybody else
knows how to do my job betterthan me.
And if I?
(12:12):
didn't have emotionalintelligence, emotional IQ.
That would bother me, but it'sreally not.
I'm really listening to theworkforce, actively listening to
the workforce, because they'rereally the closest point to
execution Right.
So when we develop a policy, wecreate a new training regimen,
they're the ones that'sexecuting that.
(12:32):
So I have to understand theymight not have been in certain
rooms and have that exposureexperience.
They all come from differentwalks of life and different
upbringings so they might nothave what somebody thinks they
have.
So when they approach me withthings, I have to receive them
as they are and try to meet themwhere they are so that we can
(12:52):
all be in the same direction,accomplishing the same mission.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Wow, that's wonderful that you're there and you lend
the ear.
Being heard is one of the mostimportant gifts that you can
give someone.
Um, and and I think there'ssomething said that even if 80%
of what someone's saying to youalready got in your pocket and
you already know that, 20% mightmake the world of difference
when it comes to, uh, planningpolicy or implementing change or
(13:18):
being more effective in yourjob, and those types of stats.
Of stats are a little, I guess,kind of ethereal.
What type of stats, in otherways, drive you?
Are there stats that you lookat when it comes to serving the
county, that you lean on asbarometers of success or of what
(13:42):
you need to focus yourresources on?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Oh, yeah, so I know.
So, council of Governments andthe actual report.
The actual name of the reportskips me, but it talks about
homelessness and they look atthat in the entire region and so
, for an example, recently areport was published this year
about homelessness andMontgomery County had a
(14:07):
significant amount.
I can't remember the exactpercentage, but they had a
significant amount.
So if you're, if you're in anunhoused space, then that tells
me some other things that as ahigh probability, you're out in
the elements and right now wehave a high heat index, so we
know what your body reacts to.
(14:28):
In that space you might nothave the appropriate nourishment
, so things could happen withyour physiology, diabetes or
other things.
You are in situations where youdon't get normal medical
attention.
So that is importantinformation to know for the fire
service, because quite oftenpublic safety is kind of that
(14:52):
catch-all, so they use 911 forthings that they really can't
figure out a solution for, or intheir minds a solution does not
exist.
So information like that isvery important to to the fire
service.
The kind of development that'scoming right.
Uh, what is what's going onwith the hospitals, right?
(15:12):
Um, are our hospitals in a goodspace or they're struggling.
Um, what's going on with theemployment right, right?
Or what's the unemployment rate?
Our nonprofits, that has a lotof resources that they commit to
the community.
If they are in a strugglingspace and certain things that
(15:34):
are basics to keep you in abalanced space will start to
decline, which means our callvolume might go up.
So a lot of those things arereally important.
How the road designs are, thathelps us traverse back and forth
across the county when we haveto respond for our 911 call.
So there are people don'treally think of those kind of
(15:56):
things when they're thinking ofthe fire service.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, and you mentioned the fire service and
we mentioned fire rescue, butfor a lot of people, I know, for
me, all I hear is fire, becausefire is such a powerful word.
You know you go in a theater,you go fire, people run.
But what you've been saying, alot of what you're talking about
in terms of service, has moreto do with health than it does
(16:19):
fire emergencies.
How much of the job is that inthe county when it comes to fire
and rescue?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yeah, thank you for that.
And this is not just inMontgomery County, this is
industry-wide in the country.
Anywhere between 75% to 85% ofwhat we do is healthcare-related
.
Oh, wow.
Emergency medical services.
So there's no different inMontgomery County.
Um, we, we run about a hundreduh and 42, 143,000 calls
(16:50):
annually.
80, 80% of those calls are forEMS.
So, uh, you know a stat thatpeople will hear often it has to
do with fire fatalities.
Right, every fatality ishorrible.
Every fatality is horrible.
But I want to give you somestats and let you see what the
story that's going to be told.
(17:11):
Much better now and movingforward in Montgomery County
Fire and Rescue Service,unfortunately, last year we had
nine fire fatalities lastcalendar year.
That's horrible and that's alittle higher than normal.
Um, we had over 800 other kindof fatalities in the county and
(17:32):
you don't hear about that andthat's your.
You know, heart attacks, normaldeaths, accidents, it's
everything else.
And so when you have finiteresources which we are very
resource rich here in the county, but they're still finite, and
so when you ask someone like me,how do you balance 1.1 million
(17:57):
people in the community with ourfinite resources?
We are reimagining how weapproach that and that's why I
told you I'm infusing conflictmanagement into the organization
to rethink how we approachthings.
I need to continue to ask ourcounty executive, our budget
office, county council for moremoney so I can hire more
(18:20):
firefighters and paramedics, soI can build more stations, so I
can build more fire trucks.
But I also need to really thinkhow we approach helping our
community be resilient and safein space.
And sometimes it is not aresponse, it's more preventive,
(18:41):
and so we're looking at betterways to prevent those
emergencies instead of just onlyresponding to them.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Wow, and that's interesting.
You say that I was thinking tomyself.
You know, man, why don't I kickout a few key words to the
chief and see how you respond?
What's the first thing thatcomes to mind In terms of public
safety and maybe tips forresidents?
It's the summertime, barbecuing.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, so you know I'm not going to try to state
actual codes, but you know youneed to make sure that when
you're barbecuing it's theappropriate distance away from
the structure and normally it'sabout 30 feet.
(19:29):
We ran a call a couple of weeksago where there was a deck on
the rear of the house.
The barbecue pit hadn't beenused for two weeks.
It was a charcoal and we'restill going through the official
cause of the fire.
But, preliminary, it appearsthat there was still coals in
(19:53):
that grill that caught theoutside of the house on fire and
the house is destroyed.
So making sure when you'recooking outside you have water
available, maybe a bucket ofwater.
It's away from the house.
There are no other combustibles, things that can catch on fire
around.
Make sure that it's an adultthat understands what to do and
(20:18):
it's not kids, and you don'thave debris and other things
around, so that you can be safe.
There are a lot of things likethat.
For instance, nobody thinks ofquite often, that the AC unit
outside needs to be checked.
So, for example, the AC unitoutside needs to be checked.
So, for example, we've beenhaving a lot of 80, 90 degree
days and that means that the ACunit is working hard.
(20:41):
People want to stay cool inside.
No-transcript.
Outside of the siding on fireit can run up the whole house or
run across the roof and by thetime you know it, your house is
(21:01):
destroyed because the smokealarm is not going to catch that
because it came on the outside.
So one thing I would say isthat we have resources at
mcfrsorg.
You can go to our website, youcan go to 311 and request one of
our preventive community riskreduction personnel to come out
(21:21):
and provide you some not onlyfire tips but health tips to
keep you safe at home.
Other things I would tell youwe're doing some amazing things
as it relates to prevention.
So we have one initiativecalled Take 10, and that's
through our community actioncoordinator and that person,
lieutenant Smith, is goingaround the county.
(21:43):
He's saturating the county notonly government agencies,
schools, recs, community membersto teach hands-only CPR.
What we're finding what we'refinding is that we just did an
EMS award a few weeks ago wherewe recognized the people we
saved and the first respondersthat provided that care.
(22:05):
We found out that only 16% ofour incidents that people are
doing bystander CPR.
So it is important to us andthat's why I say it is not
always about response, becausewe're normally not there when
the emergency happens.
So we're going to go out andteach, everywhere we can, people
(22:26):
to have to learn hands-only CPR, so when they see something
they can not only call us, theycan do something to help their
neighbor.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
So that answers another question who should know
CPR?
And I think you're sayingeveryone, everyone.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Everyone should know Everyone from from the 10 year
old to the 90 year old.
Everybody can learn CPR and itmakes a difference.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
All right, and that's the I staying alive, right.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
That's the beat.
It's the beat that you use.
We got several beats, severalbeats.
As long as you keep the heartgoing, that's right.
All right.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
So another word for you.
This time of year it's been, Ithink, in the news quite a bit
nationally, but even over in theweather reports recently
flooding yeah, flooding yeah.
What comes to mind in terms ofsafety for flooding, what the
people should be mindful of?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
First pay attention to what we're telling you.
Quite often, and people don'tthink of it this way.
When you don't take heed to oursafety tips, you put us at risk
too.
Wow, and so they are moms anddads that have families and
their families are concernedabout them having to go on the
harm's way.
So the first thing I would sayto the community is please
(23:38):
listen to the safety tips weprovide you, because we don't
want to put our personnel harm'sway if they don't have to go on
the harm's way.
But there are a lot ofinformation.
If you, you know, if you there,there are ways that you can
sign up for the alerting.
All you have to do is go to ouremergency management homeland
security website.
There's information on how yousign up for alerts.
(24:10):
We have different tools in thecounty, whether that's different
teams, swift water rescue teams.
We know where the low areas are, where we have flooding that
normally occurs.
We have monitors that will giveus information when flood
waters are rising.
We have tools that we use withthe National Weather Service to
alert us.
Most of the time we haveadvance notice and so we give
(24:32):
out that advance notice once weget it.
Get it and we need to improve,and we just had this
conversation with um, our seniorpolicy group with emergency
management, yesterday to talkabout other creative ways to
inform our community on whythese things are important to
you and that you have to heedthem so you can stay out of
harm's way.
(24:52):
So a lot of that is reallypaying attention to the safety
tips that we put out.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
All right.
We've been pretty serious andspot on when it comes to public
safety, which is rightfully so.
You talk about lives and thesafety of our residents of
Montgomery County, maryland.
You've been doing a fantasticjob and you've come over and
it's something significant aboutyou, because I think I read
that you're the first fire, thefire rescue chief, that was not
(25:19):
promoted.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Within, from within.
Yes, right, yes.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So what was your?
What was the journey like?
Well, I think you mentioned alittle bit about it earlier.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
So is there any difference coming in from
without, as opposed to if youcame through the Montgomery
County hierarchy?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So you know, this is my third department.
I, my, my department I startedin first and retired from, was
Prince George's County.
Then, once I retired, I wentover to the city of Alexandria,
um, uh, and.
And then, uh, when I left there, um, I eventually made my way
here, um, uh.
(26:02):
What I do my best is I look atmy personal and professional
life and there are transferableexperiences, issues, solutions
in both.
So I'll give an example I havebeen a stepchild.
Oh okay, I've been a stepparentand that is very relatable to
(26:26):
coming from the outside into anorganization.
There's already a culture thatexists.
I'm that new person coming in.
They're trying to learn me,they want me to respect them,
they want to get to know me sothey can respect me.
A lot of those things are verysimilar in my personal and
professional life, and so onething I learned, because this is
(26:48):
the second time I've come fromthe outside into an organization
, so I've gotten a little bitwiser in that space.
So one of the easiest things Ido is I come with a sense of
curiosity.
That is the ability for peopleto be in a space that they're
(27:09):
not trying to defend somethingbecause I might look like I'm
throwing an opinion at them,right, so that disarms them from
that space of having to defendwhatever thing that I'm asking a
question about.
So curiosity is reallysomething that helps us really
understand, get to the sameplaying field and really be able
(27:32):
to continue the journeytogether, opposed to coming in
with an opinion about somethingand now there's always this
issue or a tug of war with eachother.
So curiosity is one criticalthing.
One other thing I learned frombeing a fire chief for the
second time is that I need tomake less decisions.
(27:53):
I don't need to be the onemaking all the decisions.
I should only make the hardestdecision because everybody else
that has had that opportunitycouldn't make that decision.
Everyone else should be makingmore decisions than me should be
making more decisions than me.
What I do is provide the vision,the expectations, the support
(28:19):
and the guardrails that we haveto stay within so that I give
them comfortability to be ableto make that decision, and a lot
of that has to do with having aculture in place that everybody
has an opportunity to feel safe, even if they make a mistake
with their decision.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well, it sounds like Montgomery County has itself a
leader as fire chief instead ofjust an administrator or manager
.
So that's what's happening.
Moco, we appreciate Chief CoreySmedley for being here today.
We thank you for your serviceto the county.
We thank you for all the greatthings that you and your group
of career folks and volunteerswork diligently in the long
(28:57):
hours and keeping us all safe.
We want to ask all of you guysto make sure that you reach out
to Fire and Rescue when neededat mcfrsorg, and we're always
hiring, always hiring.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Come check us out.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Come check us out and you have a great boss to work
for.
And make sure you guyssubscribe to the what's
Happening MoCo podcast, like andshare and all the great things,
and we'll be seeing you more.
Very, very soon We'll be at theMontgomery County Ecological
Fairgrounds the nine best daysof summer, coming up August 8th
through, whenever nine dayslater will be, and I'm sure that
(29:32):
we'll see Fire and Rescue'srecruitment team there because
they're there almost every year.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
So check them out there as well.
Thanks for listening to what'sHappening, MoCo.
Please subscribe via yourfavorite podcasting platform and
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(30:01):
by searching for County CableMoCo.
Good day and welcome to what's Happening MoCo, an
authentic unscripted podcastfrom your Montgomery County
government.
Now here's your host, derekKenney.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good day and welcome to what's Happening, moco.
Today's episode.
We're talking to the chiefChief, corey Smedley, of Fire
and Rescue, montgomery County,maryland.
Good day, chief.
How are you today?
Wonderful man, thank you forhaving me.
Well, thank you for being heretoday, sir, and, as always, like
to applaud great things in thecounty and we always want to
make sure we applaud our heroes,so I'm going to insert some
(00:38):
applause right here.
Thank you so much for all thatyou do.
I know it's one of those jobsthat's tireless.
I don't want to ask you howmany hours you work a week, but
I'm going to ask you how manyhours does a chief of fire
rescue spend a week serving thecounty?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Oh man, Well over 100 .
Oh wow, Easy OK.
And you know that's that's notaccurate.
that's about well over 100 in atwo-week period okay um, you
know, 10 to 12 hours a day on,on average, is is what I find
myself doing, and then when youget home, it's uh, it.
My brain is always working, soI try to save time for me to
(01:18):
think.
So when I'm at home, I I puttime away so I can think about
things and make sure that Ireflect.
Um, so it's a lot of hours, alot of hours, a lot of hours,
but worth life balance.
This is great, you At home I puttime away so I can think about
things and make sure that Ireflect.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So it's a lot of hours a lot of hours, a lot of
hours, but worth life balance.
This is great.
You take care of yourself soyou can take care of us.
Yep.
And you spend 50 hours a week.
It seems like a lot of time,but speaking of time, you
haven't been with the countyvery long.
You've been in the county for ayear, now A year and two days
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Happy anniversary.
Thank you and applause here.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yes, it's wonderful Over the course of an entire
year.
What things stand out to you asfire and rescue chief about
Montgomery County and the peoplethat you serve.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
A lot of brilliant people in Montgomery County.
I talked to the countyexecutive's office yesterday.
We had our senior managementteam meeting and what I talked
about was how easy thistransition has been, and that's
because of the excellent peoplethat work here, not only from
(02:20):
the people inside theorganization, but my colleagues
in other agencies and the countyexecutive office, as well as
county council.
They have been warm andwelcoming.
I ask a lot of questions, Imake friends quickly and I've
been embraced not only insidethe organization but also in the
(02:41):
community.
So that's really what standsout to me.
It just I've been in three thisis my third jurisdiction now
and all of them have been greatopportunities.
Some of it might be that I'velearned better now and I have an
array of experiences that Ibring with me, but I think just
the welcoming that I've receivedsince I've been here has been
(03:03):
one of the things that I wasthat stands out to me.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's fantastic and I think there's a good segue
there.
So what we try to do isdemystify government and we
don't assume that residents knowthat there's a chief of fire
and rescue and that they knowexactly what he does or even how
he traveled through his careerjourney to get here.
So what was your career journeylike and what do you do as the
(03:29):
chief of fire rescue?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, so I put out other kind of fires on a regular
basis.
You know I'll start with what Ido as a fire chief, then I'll
backtrack to my journey.
Really, as a fire chief, you,you are, um, a supporter, you
are someone.
Right now, we're I'm makingsure we are managing conflict
(03:54):
well.
I'm pushing conflict out in theorganization on purpose.
I'm pushing conflict out in theorganization on purpose because
that's how you innovate, that'show you find new, creative ways
to reinvent yourself.
Um, and, and I'm a supporter,uh, quite often I'm a listener,
uh, I I'm a coach, uh, I, I amsomeone who knocks down barriers
(04:19):
.
Um, I make sure that I leaveroom at tables, I make sure that
I partner with not only myother public safety agencies in
the county but in the region,but also get to know the
community well and understandwhat what they need and what's
(04:40):
important to them.
I'm a researcher, I'm alegislator, I work with budget,
I do infrastructure with we have37 fire stations, but we have
four or five other facilitiesthat we utilize a training
academy, a central maintenancefleet, et cetera.
I am someone that a visionary,so I have to, you know, continue
(05:08):
to.
That's why I told you earliermy I leave time for me to think,
because I'm always trying tofigure out.
How do we?
We reinvent ourselves becauseour mission is constantly
changing, emergencies arechanging this, this cell phone
here this cell phone here, right.
This cell phone doesn't need tobe plugged into anything to
(05:28):
start a fire.
So you know you think ofbeforehand.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You went somewhere totally different than I thought
you were going.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, yeah, it can start a fire.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
A cell phone.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
A cell phone.
Lithium-ion batteries oh wow,we have them everywhere.
We have them in watches, wehave them in phones.
We have them everywhere.
We have them in watches, wehave them in phones, we have
them in vehicles.
They're everywhere.
And so that's a unique kind ofemergency that we didn't start
out.
When I started, 30 years ago,we didn't have to worry about
lithium-ion batteries, and sothere are things that we have to
really be agile and figure out.
(06:00):
How do we continue to keep upwith the changing world around
us?
And so I do all those things asa fire chief, and I do it with
a lot of help.
There's a lot of support aroundfor fire chiefs.
But I'll talk a little bitabout my journey.
So I actually grew up inWashington DC.
Okay.
And I've told this story severaltimes I never interacted with
(06:23):
the fire department growing upin Washington DC, except for two
reasons when the firedepartment came to the school
for career day, you had to playon the fire trucks.
I got to talk to thefirefighters and then in the
summertime they opened up thehydrants and we played in the
water.
Those are the only two memoriesI have of the fire service in
(06:45):
Washington DC.
My parents didn't take me call911.
They just if something happened.
They took me to the hospitaland they cared for me that way.
So I'm the youngest in thebunch.
I have two older sisters, andmy sister that's right next to
(07:07):
me joined the Prince George'sCounty Fire Department in 1989.
And that in itself just got meto pay attention to the fire
service.
I was really proud of my sister.
I was excited about what shewas doing and accomplishing and
I just really got interested inthe fire service.
So my sister was the impetus ofme joining the fire department,
(07:31):
oh wow.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Now, when you have the balance of greatness, when
you think about a brother-sisteryou think about Reggie Miller
and his sister, who's anoutstanding basketball player in
her own right, and his sister,who's an outstanding basketball
player in her own right howhow's it feel to be inspired by
a sibling to lead you on to agreat path yourself?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It's wonderful Again I had no experience in a lot of
Montgomery County is acombination system, so they have
volunteers and they have careerin DC.
District of Columbia is allcareer, so there wasn't an
opportunity for me to getexposed to the fire service
through volunteering.
So when I saw my sister, I wentto her graduation.
She talked about training, sheshowed me her equipment.
She let me play with herequipment, or tinker with it,
(08:23):
and I just thought, wow, this issomething great.
You see it on the TV, you see itwhen you're out and about and
you're like my sister does that,and so that really inspired me,
so I felt really proud.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I really I love it when there's stories like this,
where you're inspired by heroesto be a hero yourself, and a lot
of times one of those, I think.
Firefighters and policeofficers and EMS workers,
soldiers all these are thingsthat children idolize, and
(08:56):
rightfully so to be when theygrow up.
And here you are now, the topfirefighter or emergency worker
in the county.
How does that impact the wayyou engage with young people in
the county and even youngerofficers or younger burgeoning
(09:16):
firefighters in their careers?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, that's a.
That's a great question.
Um.
One thing um about this, this,this business it teaches you
that uh, tomorrow's not promisedUm.
So you know, I I forgivequickly Um I uh give grace fast.
Uh, I make sure that I talk topeople um, especially our young
(09:43):
people, and just um demystifythis position so they can
understand that I'm human.
Um, I asked them questions tospark ideas about what they
think they want to be when theygrow up.
Uh, I tell them about the greatthings that the fire service
has for you.
Uh, I tell them that, uh, thatwe welcome you as you are, and
(10:03):
then I give them an opportunityto ask me whatever questions
they want, so that we can builda relationship with each other,
Even if it's a shortconversation.
Certain things in your life,you remember it and you never
know how that can impactsomeone's life in the future.
So I hope that when peopleinteract with me, they say that
(10:27):
I'm approachable, I'm a kindperson and I'm a listener and
really I care about you.
As long as I'm doing that, Ithink I'm doing my job in that
space that I give people anopportunity to think beyond
where they currently are andthat there's an opportunity for
them whatever they want to do inlife.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
All right, now it's.
It's interesting that youmentioned young people and, I
guess, them being inspired andthe considerations you give to
others.
You don't recognize always theimportance of emotional
intelligence.
That's kind of what you'retalking about when you're
talking about providing graceand forgiveness and listening
(11:11):
and being considerate.
How important is the emotionalIQ for the chief of fire and
rescue in?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
the county.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You kind of alluded to it, but when you talk about
the skills that it takes to beone of the top emergency workers
in this region, emotional IQ.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Emotional IQ is one of the most important things to
have in a position like this andin any fire service really.
What I really look for most ischaracter and that competency.
We can teach you how to be aparamedic.
We can teach you how to be afirefighter.
(11:51):
It's hard to teach you to havecharacter.
So I learned that in my journeyand every day.
I make a joke with my executiveofficer on a regular basis.
I say it quite often it'samazing that everybody else
knows how to do my job betterthan me.
And if I?
(12:12):
didn't have emotionalintelligence, emotional IQ.
That would bother me, but it'sreally not.
I'm really listening to theworkforce, actively listening to
the workforce, because they'rereally the closest point to
execution Right.
So when we develop a policy, wecreate a new training regimen,
they're the ones that'sexecuting that.
(12:32):
So I have to understand theymight not have been in certain
rooms and have that exposureexperience.
They all come from differentwalks of life and different
upbringings so they might nothave what somebody thinks they
have.
So when they approach me withthings, I have to receive them
as they are and try to meet themwhere they are so that we can
(12:52):
all be in the same direction,accomplishing the same mission.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Wow, that's wonderful that you're there and you lend
the ear.
Being heard is one of the mostimportant gifts that you can
give someone.
Um, and and I think there'ssomething said that even if 80%
of what someone's saying to youalready got in your pocket and
you already know that, 20% mightmake the world of difference
when it comes to, uh, planningpolicy or implementing change or
(13:18):
being more effective in yourjob, and those types of stats.
Of stats are a little, I guess,kind of ethereal.
What type of stats, in otherways, drive you?
Are there stats that you lookat when it comes to serving the
county, that you lean on asbarometers of success or of what
(13:42):
you need to focus yourresources on?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Oh, yeah, so I know.
So, council of Governments andthe actual report.
The actual name of the reportskips me, but it talks about
homelessness and they look atthat in the entire region and so
, for an example, recently areport was published this year
about homelessness andMontgomery County had a
(14:07):
significant amount.
I can't remember the exactpercentage, but they had a
significant amount.
So if you're, if you're in anunhoused space, then that tells
me some other things that as ahigh probability, you're out in
the elements and right now wehave a high heat index, so we
know what your body reacts to.
(14:28):
In that space you might nothave the appropriate nourishment
, so things could happen withyour physiology, diabetes or
other things.
You are in situations where youdon't get normal medical
attention.
So that is importantinformation to know for the fire
service, because quite oftenpublic safety is kind of that
(14:52):
catch-all, so they use 911 forthings that they really can't
figure out a solution for, or intheir minds a solution does not
exist.
So information like that isvery important to to the fire
service.
The kind of development that'scoming right.
Uh, what is what's going onwith the hospitals, right?
(15:12):
Um, are our hospitals in a goodspace or they're struggling.
Um, what's going on with theemployment right, right?
Or what's the unemployment rate?
Our nonprofits, that has a lotof resources that they commit to
the community.
If they are in a strugglingspace and certain things that
(15:34):
are basics to keep you in abalanced space will start to
decline, which means our callvolume might go up.
So a lot of those things arereally important.
How the road designs are, thathelps us traverse back and forth
across the county when we haveto respond for our 911 call.
So there are people don'treally think of those kind of
(15:56):
things when they're thinking ofthe fire service.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, and you mentioned the fire service and
we mentioned fire rescue, butfor a lot of people, I know, for
me, all I hear is fire, becausefire is such a powerful word.
You know you go in a theater,you go fire, people run.
But what you've been saying, alot of what you're talking about
in terms of service, has moreto do with health than it does
(16:19):
fire emergencies.
How much of the job is that inthe county when it comes to fire
and rescue?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yeah, thank you for that.
And this is not just inMontgomery County, this is
industry-wide in the country.
Anywhere between 75% to 85% ofwhat we do is healthcare-related
.
Oh, wow.
Emergency medical services.
So there's no different inMontgomery County.
Um, we, we run about a hundreduh and 42, 143,000 calls
(16:50):
annually.
80, 80% of those calls are forEMS.
So, uh, you know a stat thatpeople will hear often it has to
do with fire fatalities.
Right, every fatality ishorrible.
Every fatality is horrible.
But I want to give you somestats and let you see what the
story that's going to be told.
(17:11):
Much better now and movingforward in Montgomery County
Fire and Rescue Service,unfortunately, last year we had
nine fire fatalities lastcalendar year.
That's horrible and that's alittle higher than normal.
Um, we had over 800 other kindof fatalities in the county and
(17:32):
you don't hear about that andthat's your.
You know, heart attacks, normaldeaths, accidents, it's
everything else.
And so when you have finiteresources which we are very
resource rich here in the county, but they're still finite, and
so when you ask someone like me,how do you balance 1.1 million
(17:57):
people in the community with ourfinite resources?
We are reimagining how weapproach that and that's why I
told you I'm infusing conflictmanagement into the organization
to rethink how we approachthings.
I need to continue to ask ourcounty executive, our budget
office, county council for moremoney so I can hire more
(18:20):
firefighters and paramedics, soI can build more stations, so I
can build more fire trucks.
But I also need to really thinkhow we approach helping our
community be resilient and safein space.
And sometimes it is not aresponse, it's more preventive,
(18:41):
and so we're looking at betterways to prevent those
emergencies instead of just onlyresponding to them.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Wow, and that's interesting.
You say that I was thinking tomyself.
You know, man, why don't I kickout a few key words to the
chief and see how you respond?
What's the first thing thatcomes to mind In terms of public
safety and maybe tips forresidents?
It's the summertime, barbecuing.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, so you know I'm not going to try to state
actual codes, but you know youneed to make sure that when
you're barbecuing it's theappropriate distance away from
the structure and normally it'sabout 30 feet.
(19:29):
We ran a call a couple of weeksago where there was a deck on
the rear of the house.
The barbecue pit hadn't beenused for two weeks.
It was a charcoal and we'restill going through the official
cause of the fire.
But, preliminary, it appearsthat there was still coals in
(19:53):
that grill that caught theoutside of the house on fire and
the house is destroyed.
So making sure when you'recooking outside you have water
available, maybe a bucket ofwater.
It's away from the house.
There are no other combustibles, things that can catch on fire
around.
Make sure that it's an adultthat understands what to do and
(20:18):
it's not kids, and you don'thave debris and other things
around, so that you can be safe.
There are a lot of things likethat.
For instance, nobody thinks ofquite often, that the AC unit
outside needs to be checked.
So, for example, the AC unitoutside needs to be checked.
So, for example, we've beenhaving a lot of 80, 90 degree
days and that means that the ACunit is working hard.
(20:41):
People want to stay cool inside.
No-transcript.
Outside of the siding on fireit can run up the whole house or
run across the roof and by thetime you know it, your house is
(21:01):
destroyed because the smokealarm is not going to catch that
because it came on the outside.
So one thing I would say isthat we have resources at
mcfrsorg.
You can go to our website, youcan go to 311 and request one of
our preventive community riskreduction personnel to come out
(21:21):
and provide you some not onlyfire tips but health tips to
keep you safe at home.
Other things I would tell youwe're doing some amazing things
as it relates to prevention.
So we have one initiativecalled Take 10, and that's
through our community actioncoordinator and that person,
lieutenant Smith, is goingaround the county.
(21:43):
He's saturating the county notonly government agencies,
schools, recs, community membersto teach hands-only CPR.
What we're finding what we'refinding is that we just did an
EMS award a few weeks ago wherewe recognized the people we
saved and the first respondersthat provided that care.
(22:05):
We found out that only 16% ofour incidents that people are
doing bystander CPR.
So it is important to us andthat's why I say it is not
always about response, becausewe're normally not there when
the emergency happens.
So we're going to go out andteach, everywhere we can, people
(22:26):
to have to learn hands-only CPR, so when they see something
they can not only call us, theycan do something to help their
neighbor.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
So that answers another question who should know
CPR?
And I think you're sayingeveryone, everyone.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Everyone should know Everyone from from the 10 year
old to the 90 year old.
Everybody can learn CPR and itmakes a difference.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
All right, and that's the I staying alive, right.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
That's the beat.
It's the beat that you use.
We got several beats, severalbeats.
As long as you keep the heartgoing, that's right.
All right.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
So another word for you.
This time of year it's been, Ithink, in the news quite a bit
nationally, but even over in theweather reports recently
flooding yeah, flooding yeah.
What comes to mind in terms ofsafety for flooding, what the
people should be mindful of?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
First pay attention to what we're telling you.
Quite often, and people don'tthink of it this way.
When you don't take heed to oursafety tips, you put us at risk
too.
Wow, and so they are moms anddads that have families and
their families are concernedabout them having to go on the
harm's way.
So the first thing I would sayto the community is please
(23:38):
listen to the safety tips weprovide you, because we don't
want to put our personnel harm'sway if they don't have to go on
the harm's way.
But there are a lot ofinformation.
If you, you know, if you there,there are ways that you can
sign up for the alerting.
All you have to do is go to ouremergency management homeland
security website.
There's information on how yousign up for alerts.
(24:10):
We have different tools in thecounty, whether that's different
teams, swift water rescue teams.
We know where the low areas are, where we have flooding that
normally occurs.
We have monitors that will giveus information when flood
waters are rising.
We have tools that we use withthe National Weather Service to
alert us.
Most of the time we haveadvance notice and so we give
(24:32):
out that advance notice once weget it.
Get it and we need to improve,and we just had this
conversation with um, our seniorpolicy group with emergency
management, yesterday to talkabout other creative ways to
inform our community on whythese things are important to
you and that you have to heedthem so you can stay out of
harm's way.
(24:52):
So a lot of that is reallypaying attention to the safety
tips that we put out.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
All right.
We've been pretty serious andspot on when it comes to public
safety, which is rightfully so.
You talk about lives and thesafety of our residents of
Montgomery County, maryland.
You've been doing a fantasticjob and you've come over and
it's something significant aboutyou, because I think I read
that you're the first fire, thefire rescue chief, that was not
(25:19):
promoted.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Within, from within.
Yes, right, yes.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So what was your?
What was the journey like?
Well, I think you mentioned alittle bit about it earlier.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
So is there any difference coming in from
without, as opposed to if youcame through the Montgomery
County hierarchy?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So you know, this is my third department.
I, my, my department I startedin first and retired from, was
Prince George's County.
Then, once I retired, I wentover to the city of Alexandria,
um, uh, and.
And then, uh, when I left there, um, I eventually made my way
here, um, uh.
(26:02):
What I do my best is I look atmy personal and professional
life and there are transferableexperiences, issues, solutions
in both.
So I'll give an example I havebeen a stepchild.
Oh okay, I've been a stepparentand that is very relatable to
(26:26):
coming from the outside into anorganization.
There's already a culture thatexists.
I'm that new person coming in.
They're trying to learn me,they want me to respect them,
they want to get to know me sothey can respect me.
A lot of those things are verysimilar in my personal and
professional life, and so onething I learned, because this is
(26:48):
the second time I've come fromthe outside into an organization
, so I've gotten a little bitwiser in that space.
So one of the easiest things Ido is I come with a sense of
curiosity.
That is the ability for peopleto be in a space that they're
(27:09):
not trying to defend somethingbecause I might look like I'm
throwing an opinion at them,right, so that disarms them from
that space of having to defendwhatever thing that I'm asking a
question about.
So curiosity is reallysomething that helps us really
understand, get to the sameplaying field and really be able
(27:32):
to continue the journeytogether, opposed to coming in
with an opinion about somethingand now there's always this
issue or a tug of war with eachother.
So curiosity is one criticalthing.
One other thing I learned frombeing a fire chief for the
second time is that I need tomake less decisions.
(27:53):
I don't need to be the onemaking all the decisions.
I should only make the hardestdecision because everybody else
that has had that opportunitycouldn't make that decision.
Everyone else should be makingmore decisions than me should be
making more decisions than me.
What I do is provide the vision,the expectations, the support
(28:19):
and the guardrails that we haveto stay within so that I give
them comfortability to be ableto make that decision, and a lot
of that has to do with having aculture in place that everybody
has an opportunity to feel safe, even if they make a mistake
with their decision.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well, it sounds like Montgomery County has itself a
leader as fire chief instead ofjust an administrator or manager
.
So that's what's happening.
Moco, we appreciate Chief CoreySmedley for being here today.
We thank you for your serviceto the county.
We thank you for all the greatthings that you and your group
of career folks and volunteerswork diligently in the long
(28:57):
hours and keeping us all safe.
We want to ask all of you guysto make sure that you reach out
to Fire and Rescue when neededat mcfrsorg, and we're always
hiring, always hiring.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Come check us out.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Come check us out and you have a great boss to work
for.
And make sure you guyssubscribe to the what's
Happening MoCo podcast, like andshare and all the great things,
and we'll be seeing you more.
Very, very soon We'll be at theMontgomery County Ecological
Fairgrounds the nine best daysof summer, coming up August 8th
through, whenever nine dayslater will be, and I'm sure that
(29:32):
we'll see Fire and Rescue'srecruitment team there because
they're there almost every year.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
So check them out there as well.
Thanks for listening to what'sHappening, MoCo.
Please subscribe via yourfavorite podcasting platform and
follow us on Facebook.
This podcast is brought to youby County Cable Montgomery, your
source for news and informationfrom the Montgomery County
government.
Connect with us via cable,Facebook, Instagram or YouTube
(30:01):
by searching for County CableMoCo.
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Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.