Village fire/rescue chief reflects on a lifetime of service
By Patricia Bogumil
Interim editor
Steve Denman moved to Waterford from Milwaukee in 1976 – not because he wanted to, but because he had to.
“I was 18 years old and fresh out of school and had no choice but to move with my parents,” Denman recalled, with a chuckle.
“Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be here 35, 36 years later.”
Denman retires April 1 as chief of the Village of Waterford Fire and Rescue Department. He has served with the department for 33 years, including the last 18 as fire chief.
When he retires, Denman plans to remain with the Waterford department in an administrative position, and he’ll still volunteer to respond to fire calls, but no longer be in a command position.
Denman will also focus more on investigative and preventive initiatives at a county level. In addition, he hopes to win election as a trustee to the Village Board in the April 3 spring election.
Denman sat down with a reporter after his retirement was announced Jan. 9 to the Village Board. Following are some insights and observations he shared.
Callouts and hobbies
“I’m going to call this work a job because it is a job. This is not a hobby and it never will be, so anybody who thinks that is going to become somewhat disenchanted. People work on a hobby in their spare time. That’s not the way this is. You’re on call 24/7, and that’s the way it is.
The pager will go off in the middle of the night, on Christmas morning when the kids are unwrapping presents, and when people are sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.
I don’t look at it as being inconvenient. Some people may, I don’t. Accidents happen and people need help and when somebody needs help, you go.
A lot of people grew up in a career-served community and think fire and rescue workers stay in the station and wait for calls. But here, when the pager goes off, our people will have just come in from working all day. If we’re on an all-night structure fire, we work all night and go home and then work all day at a regular job.”
Motivation
“Nobody does this work for the money. It’s coming from inside. When the pager goes off, it’s not like: Oh good, I’m going to go out and make eight or 10 bucks.
I think it’s just the desire to help in your community, in one way or another. You can work in a fast food restaurant and make more money than having to enter a burning building or put out a fire.
Some people hope to make this work a career some day, and some do. And we’ve lost a number of people who go to career departments. Some people just enjoy this work and find it interesting.”
Angels who come and go
“Sometimes I’m amazed when a passerby stops and renders assistance, and sometimes you want to thank them and I do my best, but sometimes they’re there and then they’re gone and you have no idea who they are.
But we are certainly very appreciative of anybody who is rendering assistance before the arrival of the fire or rescue department.”
Bad media behavior
“A number of years ago there was a child who perished in a fire in Waterford, and a reporter from a Milwaukee TV station wanted me to do an on-camera interview in front of this burned-out house and I refused. I didn’t think it was right to stand there where a child had died.
Kids have a special place in firefighters’ and EMTs’ hearts, and I think that whole situation really broke my heart.
Another time, a young child drowned in the river by the marina and the TV crew came out there with pictures of the grieving grandfather before the family was even notified. You try to keep the cameras away from the situation until it’s in hand, and sometimes you can’t.”
Family
“My wife Peggy and I just had our 20th anniversary. We have two daughters, Mary Beth and Jennifer.
When Peggy and I got married, I told her I was going to go two more years and then be done with the fire department, figuring at that point it would have been 15 years to my commitment and a good point to move on.
But things just change and all these years later I’m still doing it, and she will remind me of that on occasion!”
Gratitude
“We don’t get a lot of follow up to the calls, because of HIPAA (patient confidentiality) issues. Sometimes you’re concerned about critical patients and sometimes you find out how they are, but many times you don’t.
It’s special if somebody does come back, and we’ll have the occasional person who’ll come out to one of our meetings and say, ‘We thank you guys for helping us. I’m here because of you.’
That’s what it’s all about right there. It makes all the difference in the world.”
Volunteer services past, present and future
“The days of volunteer fire services have changed tremendously. There are a whole lot of issues about volunteer coverage now during the day, probably everywhere.
When I started 33 years ago, we had a number of business owners involved in fire and rescue – like the owner of a greenhouse, or a newspaper, the bank, a little grocery store. That’s gone now.
I think it’s important to realize that the volunteer department concept is slowly fading away and it’s going to place more communities in a situation where they’ll have to have some paid staff in the station.
You’ll always have volunteer firefighters giving up their time, but the numbers are dwindling. It’s very time-consuming work.”
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