By Ken Rodriguez
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2007 San Antonio Express-News
All Rights Reserved
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Charles Hood is not your ordinary fire chief. The man stands 6-foot-3, weighs 230 pounds, looks like he could bench-press a couple of Marines and likes to get his hands dirty.
On the job since mid-April, Hood seems to prefer the company of troops in the field to suits in the office.
Three times a week, Hood rides with an EMS unit to an accident scene or climbs aboard a ladder truck and races to a fire.
“I can’t manage this department,” he says, “sitting behind a desk.”
One of the troops asked Hood how long these ride-alongs would continue. Two weeks? Maybe a couple of months?
“No,” the chief replied. “I will ride forever.”
In-the-trenches, hands-on management is one promise. Here’s another: Hood says he will change the image and structure of the Fire Department.
By next Tuesday, you’ll see a reorganized chain of command. By October, you’ll see new responses to medical 911 calls. In time, you’ll see new approaches to dispatch, customer service and firefighter safety.
“We’ve got to change the way we do business,” Hood says.
The 47-year-old chief was not hired to tweak the status quo. He was brought in to torch it.
After a few days, the why became obvious. Once, Hood rushed with a medic unit to treat a woman with a sprained ankle. Emergency medical technicians on fire apparatus were closer but were never dispatched.
Another time, an EMS crew responded to a 21-year-old man with a fever.
“He’d been on antibiotics for six days,” Hood recalls. “And he was transported. His family got in the car and followed right behind the ambulance. I’m thinking, ‘We need to change things.”’
After arriving from Phoenix, Hood formulated a 100-day plan. Spend three months learning the current culture, then create a new one. Coming slogan: Our Family Protecting Your Family.
The 100-day marker ends next week, and the rank and file are guardedly optimistic.
“We’re holding our breath,” one paramedic says, “but we’re excited.”
Under the 13-year reign of former Chief Robert Ojeda, the troops complained about low morale, inconsistent discipline, overwhelmed dispatchers and an antiquated EMS policy known as You Call, We Haul.
Got a nosebleed? Call 911 and an ambulance will haul you to the hospital. Unless, of course, the bleeding stops before EMS arrives. One paramedic says he responded to that very call the other day.
Change, oh yes, is coming, but the details are unclear. What is clear is that new policy will be shaped by Hood’s experiences out west.
Take EMS. First responders to an accident in Phoenix are paramedics on a fire engine. If hospitalization is necessary, an ambulance responds. As a veteran paramedic, Hood knows what works and what doesn’t. And the ambulance as first responder in San Antonio isn’t working.
Hood is a bright, articulate, engaging chief. Behind the changes he intends to make are some riveting personal stories.
Consider the background of the soon-to-be implemented Violent Incident Policy. Some years ago, while responding to a house call, Hood was confronted by a tall, muscular young man with a 9-inch knife. “I was held hostage,” the chief says.
Hood calmly defused the incident and persuaded the would-be attacker to hand over the knife. But once police burst through the door, it took six people to subdue the young man. “He was about 6-4, 6-5,” the chief says, “and ripped.”
Twenty-three years in the business has taught Hood a lot. But he still has much to learn, which is why he rides with the troops. “Without situational awareness, I can’t manage this department,” he says. “I have to see it, feel it, smell it.”
The 100-day fact-finding mission is almost over. A match has been lit. Soon, an old way of putting out fires will go up in flames.