A call was dispatched for subject trapped in an elevator, tones were sounding as rookie firefighter Edwin W. Smith headed out the door with his crew members. A seasoned member of only two weeks on the job, Smith saw the worse his job could offer. Crews arrived and found a subject with his head crushed between the elevator doors.
"I was broken in quick," Smith recounted. "The call was bad, a fatality first thing, the scene was so horrible to look at I didn???t think I would ever be able to eat again. Later at the station, all of us together dealt with what we had to see and I was able to finally eat later that day. I learned then that you have to deal with these things and keep going."
Now, thirty-three years later, Smith has the mantle of leadership on his shoulders. On August 18, Edwin W. Smith became Fire Chief of Henrico County.
Smith has held multiple positions in the fire service such as Firefighter, Lieutenant on an Engine, Captain at two different companies, performed ambulance duty and most recently served as Division Chief. He follows in the shoes of Chief Ron Mastin.
Smith attended Maggie Walker High School, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, National Fire Academy and the University of Richmond.
What are his goals?
I want to get back to basics, Smith explained, and to educating the public on smoke detectors, CO Monitors and training the crews.
"We only get one shot to get it right," Smith solemnly said. "We have to be trained, there are no do-overs in rescue or in a fire. You have to train so you don't do it wrong. The younger generation coming in now has been raised on video games, they haven't had the experiences of being outside,etc as the generation who is serving now has had. They have to experience some of these scenarios to learn how to perform in those conditions."
In the multitude of calls Smith has responded to one stands out.
"It's too many calls to recount them all," elaborated Smith. "But one stands out in my mind as a defining moments call. About fifteen years ago, another firefighter and I were at a structure fire. We pulled a woman out, although she later died at the hospital, the defining moment was being able to get her out. That's what we do. Everything we do is to prepare to be able to do that. That's a once in a lifetime thing, to be able to pull someone out."
Smith will be supervising over 500 personnel and have a $46 million budget to manage.
