Politics intrude into long careers of retiring fire officials

A couple years ago, this would have been an easy column to write.

It would have been a simple story about a couple of dedicated firefighters who started on the street, experienced several lifetimes worth of human trauma and rose to positions of substantial responsibility. There would have been tears and laughs, anything but politics.

After all, these were firefighters. These were community heroes.

But Clark County Fire Chief Steve Smith and Las Vegas Fire Department Battalion Chief Bill Whealan picked a tough time to retire. The Southern Nevada economy is in deep recession, unemployment keeps climbing, local governments scramble for every nickel, and firefighters are now criticized as overpaid and overprotected. City firefighters reluctantly accepted pay and benefit cuts. County firefighters are going to arbitration.

Smith, 52, will leave the department after 30 years, including five as chief. The term "firefighter" conjures images of burning buildings and ladder trucks, but emergency medical response makes up a majority of the duty. These days, fire departments teem with EMTs and paramedics.

Smith won't forget his first paramedic call. It was a domestic dispute. When he arrived, the husband calmly sat in the yard. In the kitchen, his wife lay dying with a butcher knife in her chest.

"I really got to see some life-changing events," Smith says. "You take care of every walk of life, and you also see how mean people can be to each other."

The fires, auto accidents and medical emergencies are just part of the difficult duty. Once Smith reached the pinnacle of the department and watched the economy sink from under the feet of Southern Nevadans, the job of chief became more complicated and political. During my interview, I got the sense it's part of the job he won't miss.

Whealan has plenty of his own memories. At 5-6 and 150 pounds, initially he didn't meet the city's minimum physical requirements. When the policy changed, he was hired on in 1982. Now 49, he recently retired after 28 years and is now a division chief for the Hemet (Calif.) Fire Department.

As a firefighter paramedic, Whealan took every call imaginable. Although he spent the last 14 years as a battalion chief, Whealan still chokes up remembering some of the calls involving children.

One of his first calls was to a residence, where the family Doberman had ripped the head and face of a 4-year-old girl. Whealan thought of his own daughter, then about that age.

"It's one of those calls that will stick with me forever," he says.

He'll always remember the baby they tried in vain to save. The infant was shaken to pieces by her father. The little one died despite their best efforts.

"The dad had been working and was tired, and he couldn't get her to stop crying and wound up killing the little baby," says Whealan, who was called to testify in the ensuing criminal investigation.

There were tragedies, but there also were thousands of positive outcomes.

"These men and women have saved thousands of lives," Whealan says.

With the risks associated with firefighting, Whealan during his career was twice forced to undergo nine months of AIDS testing because of blood exposure on medical calls.

They were paid well for the long hours they worked. They have excellent retirements thanks to the contracts negotiated between their unions and city and county officials. In short, they held up their end of the pact.

Now the day has changed. In desperate economic times, public anger is palpable. The foul odor of politics never leaves the air.

I'll wager Smith and Whealan prefer to remember the days when all they had to worry about was life and death.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.