Editorial
Front Page - Friday, August 28, 2009
Chattanooga Fire Chief Randy Parker looks back, ahead
David Laprad
Chattanooga Fire Chief Randy Parker is probably the luckiest member of his department. The reason has nothing to do with his longevity on the job, or his position of authority or a history of close calls. Parker is fortunate because after spending nearly his entire career working for the Chattanooga Fire Department, he’s managed to escape without a nickname.
As far as he knows.
“We love to give out nicknames at the fire department,” Parker says, laughing. “So if you make even a minor mistake, people will have fun with it and it will stick with you for the rest of your career.”
Parker is sitting at his desk in the administration building, which is attached at the hip to Fire Station 10 at the corner of Amnicola Highway and Wisdom Street. He looks relaxed, despite his busy schedule. Like many public officials in Hamilton County, he’s been dealing with issues surrounding the county’s proposed annexation of new territories, while making sure the 376 sworn firefighters working for Chattanooga have the training and equipment they need to do their job.
“It’s my job to go to the city council and the mayor and try to get the funds and the equipment we need to do our job,” he says. “And budgets are a problem for everyone right now.”
Staffing also occupies a large chunk of Parker’s time, as firefighters do leave and retire, requiring the chief to hire and prep new ones. And training is more complex than when he was new on the job.
“When I came to work for the fire department, training took about six weeks,” he says. “Now it takes over six months to fully train a firefighter. We get into hazardous materials, urban search and rescue, and basic firefighter training, and everybody must be at least an EMT. We even do a class on our new boat.”
Once someone is on the job, Parker says he lets him know what he wants him to do and then sets him loose to do it. And he says his management style has worked well since he took over for his predecessor, Wendell Rowe, this summer.
“I don’t lord over folks,” he says. “People know what I expect from them and have stepped up to the challenge. If you show up and do your job, then you won’t have any issues with me.”
Parker talks in an easy-going, down-home manner, which is no surprise, considering he grew up in Chattanooga and has spent most of his life in the city. When asked about his early years, he offers a quick rundown, saying he came from a small family, graduated from East Ridge High School and then worked a variety of jobs. Eventually, someone suggested he look into applying for work at the fire department.
“Like a lot of people, I got into the fire department by accident,” Parker says, turning back the wheels of time to 1977. “Out of high school, I worked for different companies but didn’t have any direction as to where I wanted to go. My father knew Chief Knowles, though, and Knowles told him I ought to look into the fire department.”
Parker put in his application and took the requisite tests, and then a year passed without a word from the department. Then someone called him out of the blue.
“They wanted to know if I’d be interested in working as a dispatcher,” says Parker. “So I started off in a building that’s not even there anymore, where the parking lot is now for the city council.”
Two years later, Parker transferred to the fire department, where he became an EMT and eventually a paramedic. He left the department for a short time toward the end of the ‘80s to work for TVA, then returned to the department and was assigned to an engine company.
“Once I got in, I was hooked,” Parker says. “So whenever there was a promotional exam, I took it, and I started advancing through the ranks.”
Asked if he ever misses going out on calls now that he works at a desk, he points toward a window, through which he can see the driveway in front of Station 10. “Yeah. I sit here every day and watch them leave,” he says. “Running calls is the great part of the job because you’re getting a chance to help someone. There aren’t many jobs where you can take your hands and what you have in your head and make a difference in someone’s life.”
Parker says being able to assist others has been a big part of what he’s enjoyed about working for the fire department.
“If you don’t enjoy helping people in all stations of life, then this job isn’t for you,” he says. “Some people don’t have the best things. If someone has a small house, then that’s the best he can do at that moment. And if he loses it, he loses everything he has.”
Parker has seen this and worse happen, but he says he’s loved his career. In fact, his work has become such a fundamental part of who he is, he has a hard time setting it aside at the end of the day. During a recent Nightfall event, for example, he noted some issues with the parking that would have been an obstacle to his firefighters, had they needed to get in.
“I told the administrator of public works, Steven Leach, we needed to address that issue, so he worked up a solution that gave us access to the building,” says Parker. “I tend to get in that mindset. When I go somewhere, I look at how I can get out. People make fun of me, but it’s a force of habit.”
Talking with Parker, it’s hard to imagine anything bothering him, especially someone making lighthearted jokes at his expense, but he says there is one thing that keeps him up nights.
“Disciplinary action. I struggle with it because whenever you discipline someone, you affect his pay. Everyone has issues, and when those issues intrude on the job, I have to deal with it.”
Parker will have plenty of other things to deal with in the coming months, too, including the construction of a new fire station at Enterprise South, which will involve the hiring and training of 30 additional firefighters. “We’re always looking for good men and women, and once you’re here, we want you to stay,” he says.
For the moment, Parker sets aside thoughts about what’s ahead, calls out to Assistant Chief Chris Adams as the man is walking by and asks him a question of considerable weight.
“Maybe you know the answer to this. Do I have a nickname around here?”
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