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Show Speed bringing experience, training to new fire chief job By JENNIFER PFTRRSON Staff Writer i.i. i. M. . .. I., I,, i .mi For more than 30 years John W. Speed has risen through the fire ranks from firefighter to fire chief. This week he brings his expertise to Davis County as the newly selected South Davis Fire District fire chief. Speed began his career as a firefighter in his home state of California. He acted as fire chief in Tracy, Calif, before transferring to the Vallejo, Calif, department. In 1974, Speed, his wife, Virginia, and their three daughters moved to Aurora, Colo., where he has been fire chief for the past 16 years. Speed's many years in fire service ser-vice have been accompanied by experience ex-perience outside the firehouse. He has served on criminal justice and incident command committees, assisted in the establishment of the Arapahoe County, Colo. Emergency Emergen-cy 911 (dispatch) system, taught fire science courses, worked on hazardous materials teams and currently cur-rently holds a lifetime teaching credential with the California State Department of Education. While Speed said he enjoyed his time at the 300-employee-strong Aurora department, he looks forward for-ward to the day-to-day personal contact a smaller department has to offer. "My office was on the third floor of city hall. We didn't wear uniforms, I had assistants to do my leg work, I didn't even drive a marked car, I seldom even saw a fire engine," Speed said of his Aurora position. SEE SPEED ON A-2 JOHN W. SPEED Speed CONTINUED FROM A-l In November 1991 Speed took his vested retirement from the Aurora department and started a consulting company with a friend of his. But Speed said retirement just doesn't sit well with him. "I really hate not going to work. I need to go to work every day," Speed explained. So, when he saw the opportunity to move back to a smaller fire department, he jumped at the chance. "It looks like a really challeng- ing type of department. I've worked with several city departments but never for a district," Speed said. Speed did not have much time to spend in Davis County when the district called him out for an interview, inter-view, but he said he was able to pick up plenty of information while meeting his future charges and touring tour-ing the district during his overnight stay. Current topics such as the consolidation con-solidation of the dispatch (911) system, additional paramedic fees and the need for the reconsideration of the current hazardous materials team did not go unnoticed by the new chief in his brief visit. S peed ' s serv ice in the estab-lishment estab-lishment of the Arapahoe County, Colo. Emergency 911 service could come in handy as Davis County officials continue to discuss a possible consolidation of such services ser-vices here. ' 'It doesn't make a lot of sense to have several systems in an area such as (Davis County). It's frustrating and time consuming," Speed said. As for charging an additional paramedic-on-board fee, Speed said that is not unusual "In fact, paramedics generally require a higher fee than emergency medical techicians because paramedics require more training," Speed explained. However, Speed did say that in Colorado the fee was dependent upon the type of taxation which paid for the initial cost of running the service. After a tour of the district, Speed said he will be analyzing the current hazardous materials team and try to determine whether the first-response first-response classification will need to be upgraded. The district will maintain main-tain its first response standing, but, if needed, may upgrade some of the Hazmat team members' classifications. classifica-tions. Speed also had an opportunity to meet several of the firefighters, engineers en-gineers and paramedics on his brief visit to town and said he was impressed im-pressed with the people he met "They seem really interested in what they are doing. In many situations situa-tions it's just a job, but the people here seemed more interested in the service than that," Speed said. Chairman of the Board Harold W. Wright, Jr. said he believed Speed would be given some latitude in personnel changes should the need arise but Speed doesn't see that need in the near future. , - ' ' I probably will make some changes down the road, but it really depends. I will have to look at the situation and determine what is best for the department," Speed said. While Speed said he has an ability abil-ity to pick out an individual's strong and weak points, just because someone has a weak point does not mean he or she loses value to the department. "I'm a strong believer in getting the maximum out of people and just because a rookie firefighter doesn't have a lot of experience does not mean he does not have some other valuable expertise," Speed said. Wright left the decision on whether to keep or release foi ner fire chief Brent Argyle up to the new chief stating that, as the commander com-mander of the department, personnel per-sonnel changes would be Speed's duty. However, in the long run it may not be Speed who will make that decision. "It depends how the board wants to handle, it but I have no problem letting him continue with the department If you are asking if it would be a problem to have the former fire chief working for me, no, I have no qualms with that," Speed said. "I'm looking forward to feeling like part of the department again," he said. The new chief and his wife arrived arriv-ed in Davis County last weekend. The chief started Monday. |
