Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of interviews with firefighters who are also social media personalities promoting the life of firefighters.
Chief Joel Miller is the one-man operating crew of one of the biggest social media presences in the fire service world. Miller runs the “Chief Miller” page, as well as his apparel account “chiefmillerapparel.”
He currently works as a fire chief for the federal government in Louisiana and is four years away from retirement. His social media lands popularity on Facebook and Instagram, but how did he get started?
Miller originally loved taking photos of anything on his phone, and started to post things on Instagram when the app first came out. After some minor success, he started to turn the tune of his page towards the fire service. His followers started to send material to him, which turned into Miller posting a featured photo once a week from that material.
The success resulted in his direct messages overflowing, allowing him to post upwards of 50-60 times a day. Miller now has over 82,000 posts with more than 362,000 followers on his Instagram account. It has allowed him to travel all over the country, meeting photographer friends, all while still working as a full-time firefighter.
“A great friend of mine is in California, but me and him have been to Baltimore, Detroit, and St. Louis. Social media is what bridged that, if we didn't have social media, I would have never known him. He's become a good friend. He's across the country, but we had a passion about the same thing,” Miller said.
Miller believes that Instagram fits perfectly with the fire service world since the platform and the industry are both extremely busy operations. While Miller runs his social media accounts, he also manages to work 60-hour work weeks Monday-Friday.
He wants to be able to showcase the fire service world to those interested, and to help bring awareness to reality of it. Miller thinks that “the fire service has fallen off the boards” in terms of not taking advantage of social media to promote the industry. Additionally, Miller sees his page as a bit of a news page, due to him keeping tabs on all the big happenings in the industry.
“Listening is the key when you come into the fire service. There is so much knowledge. You learn so much around that kitchen table...from training, too. Don't stop training! Don't stop learning, and just listen. If you listen, you will learn so much. Hard work and focus, if you keep up the hard work, you'll move up the ladder. It will all pay off,” Miller said.
As far as the plan for post-retirement, Miller will look to turn back to his roots from high school. Miller used to sell fire equipment as a high schooler and intends to make his apparel site his focus when he hangs up the gear.
“I’ll be driving around, visiting fire stations, and selling some fire equipment,” he said.
Ryan Baker
Ryan Baker is a writer and associate editor with prior experiences in online and print production. Ryan is an associate editor for T&D World and Firehouse, while he is going to graduate school in pursuit of a master's degree in sciences of communication at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He recently completed a year of teaching Intro to Public Speaking at UW-Whitewater, as part of his graduate program. Ryan acquired his bachelor's degree in journalism in 2023 from UW-Whitewater, and operates currently out of Minneapolis, MN. Baker, also writes freelances for the Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) in his free time, while also umpiring baseball for various ages across the Twin Cities Metro Area.
