Leaving a Legacy of Diversity

Don Smith, Fire Chief

Travis County ESD #4

Austin, Texas

When Fire Chief Don Smith retires on May 31st, he’ll be closing a 45 year career—16 years with ESD # 4 and 29 years with the Austin Fire Department—leaving behind a living legacy to his commitment to diversity and better serving the community.

ESD # 4 is a combo department. Don became its first paid chief in 1994 after retiring from Austin.

“In five of the eastside neighborhoods we were serving there were no paid firefighters. These were lower income neighborhoods. I wanted to get more volunteers in that area. So I hired an African-American Captain—he’s now an Assistant Fire Chief—who I had trained in Austin to go to these neighborhoods and see if we could recruit some of the youth.”

“He came back and said, ‘What are you going to offer them?’ I replied, ‘A chance to be active in their community.’ He countered, ‘This helps us but what are you offering them?’”

“So I decided to think about what he said and a few days later told him my idea, ‘If these kids volunteer with our department, I’m going to give them training that will allow them to be certified in the State of Texas as a firefighter which means that they could be hired by any department in the State.’”

“We dealt with a lot of naysayers, including the State. But in 1999, the Volunteer Cadet Fire Academy started with its first class of 15. Six months later, there were 12 graduates and within one year all of them had full-time jobs as paid firefighters in the State of Texas!”

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Facilitating Courageous Conversations about Racism, Sexism, Homophobia and Transphobia

White guilt, denial, defensiveness: What they are and how they set up detours on the journey to anti-racism.

Camp Courage—a week-long summer program to introduce young women to careers as first responders founded by Andréa Speranza, a firefighter with the Halifax Fire Department (Nova Scotia, Canada)—launches its ‘reality series’ of 13, five-minute episodes.

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Recent & Upcoming Events

Pilot Sessions For Recruiting & Retaining Diversity in The Fire Service™

Tacoma, Washington

Wayne Caldwell, Dean of Fire Training at Bates Technical College, Mike Brown, Executive Director of Washington Fire Chiefs, and Kelly Fox, President of Washington State Council of Fire Fighters sponsored the fourth pilot on May 4th at Bates Technical College South Campus.

The 34 participants came from Bellevue Fire Department, Kent Fire Department, Renton Fire and Emergency Services, Central Pierce Fire & Rescue, South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, Lynnwood Fire Department, Olympia Fire Department, Vancouver Fire Department, Seattle Fire Department, and South King Fire & Rescue.

Central Florida Fire Academy, Orlando, Florida on May 21

Richmond, Virginia on June 17