New fire chief brings safety focus to job

Ron Menchaca
The Post and Courier

Thomas Carr Jr. (center) is wrapping up his fire chief duties in Montgomery County, Md., before he takes over as the leader of the Charleston Fire Department in November.

ROCKVILLE, MD.—Shane Darwick's chest heaved as he climbed the stairs to the top of the training tower. He glanced down at the gear strapped to his body to make sure it would hold as he rappelled to the ground a few stories below.

But he was still a fresh-faced firefighting recruit, and he didn't know that his rig wasn't properly tied. The instructor noticed it but decided that a frightening descent to the air mattress below might teach the newbie a lesson.

Just as Darwick stepped toward the ledge, another recruit lunged past the instructor and yanked him back to safety. "He's not hooked up correctly," the recruit shouted.

The year was 1978. And the recruit who intervened was Thomas Carr Jr., then a 24-year-old volunteer paramedic with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.

Video

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley introduces Thomas Carr as Charleston's new Fire Chief. Watch »

Carr soon rose through the ranks, notching stints as a firefighter, 911 dispatcher, search and rescue leader, officer, district chief, fire commissioner and assistant chief. He became chief of the county's career firefighters in 2003, and assumed command of a newly combined career and volunteer department two years later.

Some 30 years later, Darwick vividly recalls the training-tower incident because it foretold the concern for firefighter safety that has come to define Carr's career.

"That stayed with me," said Darwick, who now works under Carr as a battalion chief. "He stepped up as a leader that day."

Next month, Carr becomes Charleston's new fire chief, taking the reins of a department still grieving and rebuilding from last year's Sofa Super Store blaze that killed nine city firefighters.

Mayor Joe Riley nominated Carr from a pool of 141 applicants, and City Council confirmed the selection Tuesday.

The department is in the midst of a sweeping and unprecedented overhaul recommended by a panel of consultants the city hired in the wake of the June 18, 2007, tragedy.

Firefighters in Montgomery County said that if anyone can step in and take Charleston's fire department to the next level, it's Carr.

The road ahead

Carr said it's too early to lay out a vision for his new department until he's gathered input from its members, something he has a reputation for doing in Maryland.

But he is certain that blueprint will reflect the department's traditions, mission and makeup.

"What I don't want to do is go down there and make a mini Montgomery County. Every community is different. What we need to do is make Charleston the best it can be," he said.

Carr's achievements in Montgomery County include overseeing the merger of career and volunteer fire departments, establishing a nationally recognized search and rescue program, achieving national accreditation for his fire department, implementing a health and safety program for firefighters, boosting staffing levels and introducing technology into the department's training and operations.

The department tracks and analyzes virtually every aspect of its operation and relies heavily on this information to justify spending on equipment, such as the three dozen new firetrucks on order.

Montgomery County leaders also have scrutinized Carr's department for excessive overtime pay, and he's been forced to absorb budget cuts, a hard swallow for an agency that serves a growing population of nearly one million.

Carr said he's never busted his budget, and he doesn't mind justifying expenses to a county council that is closely involved in the operation of the fire department.

Under Charleston's strong-mayor form of government, City Council has a minimal role in fire department affairs.

Carr said he looks forward to developing a relationship with Charleston council members, but that ultimately he'll answer to Riley.

Called by sirens

For someone whose profession is defined by split-second decisions and quick action, Carr comes across as a man in no particular hurry. He stays busy, but there's a calm about him that belies his schedule.

He tends to shuffle when he walks, which when coupled with his measured speech, hunched posture and thick gray mustache, gives him a grandfatherly air that makes him seem older than his 54 years.

A Blackberry phone and a beat-up 7-Eleven mug filled with Diet Coke that he calls "Big Red" are fixtures in his hands. But it's his easy-going attitude that those who know him comment on most.

Carr was born at the Charleston Naval Hospital in 1954. His mother, Haskell Carr, whose maiden name is Grimball, was raised in Charleston. His father, Thomas Carr, a 1950 graduate of The Citadel, served in the Army during the Korean War.

The family eventually settled in Washington when Carr's father took a job in President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration directing White House fellows. Carr's parents retired to Charleston in the late 1980s and now live on Sullivan's Island.

Carr became fascinated with emergency services as a boy after he witnessed another child get hit by a car and watched as medics rushed to the scene.

But his parents expected him to go to college, so Carr set his sights on becoming a doctor, though he soon realized he wanted to practice medicine on the streets, darting to emergencies with little more than adrenaline and a first-aid kit.

"It wasn't the nice sterile environment," he said of a paramedic work. "You are hanging by your knees in the mud and blood."

Carr's parents were disappointed when he left college to became a volunteer paramedic. He was working at a fire station in Bethesda, Md., in 1976 when a young YMCA counselor stopped by the station as part of her work with children. Her name was Anne.

By the time they married in 1980, Carr had become a paramedic and firefighter with Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. He eventually returned to college, aware that education could bolster his rise in the ranks.

Saving firefighters

While he's seen just about everything a firefighter can in a career spanning more than three decades, Carr's department has been spared the kind of tragedy that struck Charleston last year. The last on-duty death in Montgomery County occurred in 1976, when a paramedic was killed in a traffic accident.

Carr said Charleston's fallen nine will never be forgotten, and he believes the loss must become an inspiration for improving the department, not a fixation that stunts its potential.

The scathing report from the consulting panel that studied the sofa store blaze and the Charleston Fire Department's response was required reading for Carr and his firefighters.

"We need to learn from the experiences of others and make sure it doesn't happen to us," he said.

Carr's emphasis on firefighter health and safety is a hallmark of his tenure in Maryland. He established a firefighters-only medical clinic, outfitted each station with exercise equipment and worked with the firefighters' union to mandate physicals and other health requirements.

Even a 10-year-old ban on cigarettes and chewing tobacco for firefighters generates little grumbling.

The job alone places firefighters at enough risk.

Montgomery County had eight "near-misses" in the past 18 months, including a recent close call in which a firefighter fell though a burning floor. The volunteer firefighter was badly burned but managed to call for help before saving himself.

Firefighters who aren't afraid to radio "mayday" when in danger go home at the end of their shifts, Carr said.

"The first thing is saving yourself."

Bottom-up style

At Station 8 in nearby Gaithersburg, Md., the county's busiest, crews wolfed down Philly cheesesteak sandwiches on a recent Saturday, knowing the next call could come at any minute.

It turned out to be a routine EMS call, but the rush for the engines illustrated an important point: Four firefighters climbed into the firetruck. In the fire service, it's known as four-person staffing.

It means more hands on the fire ground and more flexibility for commanders to get a jump on a fire before it can spiral out of control. It's also a nationally recommended standard that Charleston is working to achieve.

Carr sold the extra staffing, and the added cost, to county leaders by assigning a firefighter/paramedic to the fourth position, which allows the fire truck to also operate as the first responding EMS unit.

Station 8 Capt. Tim Brown said the extra manpower and other improvements helped solidify Carr's legacy. "He really pushed for the staffing," Brown said. "He is very politically savvy."

Much of Carr's popularity stems from his passion for firefighting and concern for his troops. He understands their needs and they respect him for having walked the walk, Brown said.

"He's been around the stations and worked his way up. It's a lot easier taking direction from someone who's been in the trenches," he said.

Several firefighters cited the successful merging of the county's 2,000 career and volunteer firefighters as an example of Carr's ability to bring people together. When the county joined the two divisions in 2005, some said the marriage would fail.

Carr united the groups by building consensus, one station at a time. He held nearly 150 kitchen table chats in firehouses across the county.

"He comes to dinner, and you see him in the field," Montgomery County firefighter and paramedic Doug Wantling said. "You can approach him."

John Sparks, president of the Montgomery County firefighters union, said Carr also has a good working relationship with the union because he supports the rank-and-file with the staffing and equipment they need to do their jobs.

"Chief Carr realizes how important it is to get feedback from the guys on the floor who are risking their lives. Our loss is really Charleston's gain," Sparks said.

Reach Ron Menchaca at rmenchaca@postandcourier.com or 937-5724.