Hicks honored for 41 years of firefighting

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Don Hicks was driving from a ballgame back into Chilhowie on Highway 11 when he saw flames around the chimney of a house in the west end of town.
He drove on to the fire station and turned in the alarm, which required breaking a box to access the switch.
That was in 1968, and “it wasn’t long after that I actually joined the fire department,” said Hicks. In November, Hicks retired from the department where the development in alarm technology from breakable boxes to E911 was but one of the dramatic changes he’s seen.
Hicks said his close friend Dan Jackson, who was on the fire department, influenced his decision to join.
“He and I have been close the whole time,” he said of Jackson, who remains active in the department.
Hicks sat down in Fire Chief’ David Haynes’ office Tuesday to talk about how the department changed on his long watch.
That office space represents one of the changes, and one that brought the fire department full circle. The chief’s office, a training room and other offices are located in the former fire station that later housed the town hall. The fire department’s administration building is adjacent to the fire station that still houses the trucks and other equipment. A few yards east is the new town hall.
“When I joined, we had this room right here for a meeting room,” Hicks said. “We used the garage to store turnout gear. There was one truck that sat there. The old Ford sat in the back of the garage. A panel truck carried a portable pump in case we had to pump water out of the river.”
Where dispatchers alert firefighters by radio now, in Hick’s early days as a firefighter the department was summoned by siren.
“The chief had a telephone at home and the assistant chief had a telephone at his home,” Hicks said. “We had a big siren at the station. The chief or assistant chief had to come down here and flip the switch. Then the chief or assistant chief called two, and they called two, and we still got out at a reasonable time. Our response time was really good for the situation.”
Communications improved with the arrival of personal belt-worn monitors that picked up dispatches on the fire department’s radio frequency. Then-chief Gene Grosclose had a little fun with Hicks when he got his monitor.
“I’ll never forget what Mr. Groseclose told me when I got that monitor. He said, ‘Turn it way up so you’ll hear it.’ The first time it went off it brought me up out of the bed,” Hicks said.
“The first call I can remember seems to me like it was at Berry’s Supermarket,” Hicks said. “They had a motor go out on one of the coolers after hours. It was closed. Somebody came by and saw it full of smoke.”
Today’s firefighters are separated from fire-scene smoke by breathing air from self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA. Forty-one years ago, they breathed that smoky air after it passed through a scrubber.
“We had a little chemical box about so big,” he said, holding his hands a few inches apart, “that was supposed to filter the dangerous chemicals out of the smoke. You could still smell the smoke. We wore it for 15 minutes at most,” after which time the smoke-treating chemical was depleted.
“It had a window on it,” Hicks said. “When it turned pink, you had to get out. So here you were fighting fire and looking down to see if it was time to get out. When I first came here, we were smoke eaters.”
Modern turnout gear -- the firefighter’s coat, pants, boots, gloves and fire resistant hood -- are more advanced than that which Hicks wore as a new firefighter.
“Our turnout gear consisted of hip boots and a long coat, and a leather helmet,” Hicks said. “It would keep you dry. I’m not sure what material the coat was made out of, but it was nothing like what we’ve got now. I don’t know if we had any big fires with that turnout gear. We were just lucky we didn’t have anybody go down.”
Firefighters now go through a series of certifications, learning the basic skills and theory of their service in Firefighter I and II courses. They can certify in emergency vehicle operations and handling hazardous materials incidents. More specialized training teaches skills used in high-angle and confined space rescue, potentially useful on emergency scenes involving tall structures or little places.
That training has come about since Hicks was a greenhorn.
“Then, you just grabbed the hose and went in and tried to hit the fire,” he said. “There were no tactics, no Firefighter I, Firefighter II, no classes.”
Once they were available, classes were offered in various locations by experts brought in, often teaching several fire departments’ members in combined classes.
“We have in-house people now,” Hicks said. “We don’t have to go elsewhere for training.”
Hicks earned certificates in both levels of fire fighting and haz-mat incident response.
The biggest change for the department, Hicks said, came as it took over emergency medical services from the troubled Chilhowie Rescue Squad a few years ago. That brought needs for new skills, new training to develop them, and new equipment for their effective deployment.
It was then that Hicks added Emergency Medical Technician to his certifications.
When Hicks joined the department, there wasn’t an ambulance in town.
“Back then, we didn’t have a rescue squad of any kind,” he said. “If you had a wreck, they’d call the fire department. If we needed anybody transported to the hospital, the local funeral homes would transport them in a hearse.”
The hearses were equipped with oxygen for patients, he said. Beyond that, there was little that could be done for patients before their arrival at the emergency room.
“We had first-aid kits on the trucks,” Hicks said. “We could bandage them up. We wrapped them up the best we could -- nobody knew how – and threw them in the hearse and sent them to the hospital.”
Hicks could handle any of the fire-scene tasks, from attacking the fire to operating the equipment.
“I did whatever I needed to do,” he said. “If we got on the scene and there was nobody to run the pump, I ran the pump. If there was nobody to drive, I drove the truck. I really enjoyed attacking the fire. I really enjoyed attacking.”
At age 63, Hicks works 12-hour shifts in maintenance at Scholle, a schedule that leaves little time for rest and family, time further reduced by running fire and rescue calls.
“A man’s gotta sleep sometime,” he said. “You may not think that extra four hours on a shift makes any difference, but it pulls into it.”
He retired from the department in late November.
“I miss it. Somewhat,” he said, adding with tongue in cheek, “I miss getting up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”
Turning serious, he said, “That was a hard decision for me to make. I’ve enjoyed every minute. I will still do what I can when they need me. It’s almost like leaving your family.”
Those considering applying for membership in the department need to bear something in mind, Hicks said.
“They’ve got to realize this is a public service,” he said. “I don’t know any other fire department or EMS that’s any better in the area. They’d be able to get the training, but you’ve got to be community minded and want to help people.”
By the time he retired, Hicks knew pretty much what there is to know about Chilhowie Fire Department, but he learned something two weeks ago when the town honored his service with a resolution of commendation. At a presentation ceremony during the February council meeting, he learned he holds the department record for the number of calls in a year – more than 400.
“That was a shock to me,” Hicks said. “I didn’t do it intentionally. When the tone went off, here I go.”
And it all goes back to the time he threw the alarm for a chimney fire.

dkegley@wythenews.com