Throughout his career at Winchester Fire Department, John Nash has often emerged as a pioneer. Hired at 19 years old, he was the youngest employee in the history of the fire department. After finishing his studies, he became the first firefighter to have earned a bachelor's degree in a related field. And in 1977, he brought the first ambulance to the department, despite the controversy surrounding the decision. Twenty years later, at age 42, he became the youngest fire chief the department has ever had.
In a humble manner characteristic to Nash, he attributes his accomplishments to his team. "Without the work of the people who work here, I could not have come close to the successes that the department has achieved," Nash said on a recent morning in his office. He donned an immaculately pressed uniform, with two pins of five crossed bugles -- denoting a chief's rank -- adorning his collar. After nearly 46 years with Winchester Fire Department, Nash will retire in October. A committee will present a list of candidates for a new fire chief to the town manager by the end of September.
Bringing first ambulance to Winchester
Although Nash's father was a firefighter in Winchester, Nash, who grew up in town, says he never intended to follow in his footsteps. He went to study business at Northeastern University, and picked up a part-time call firefighter job to help pay his tuition. After some time, a career as a firefighter was looking more like a promising future. He became a full-time firefighter and switched his major to fire engineering and safety.
Since then, he saw the department evolve, and he became an integral part of that evolution.
Back in the 1970s, firefighters were trained in basic first aid, Nash explained, but there were no Emergency Medical Technicians. A popular TV show "Emergency!" on NBC became the vanguard for the modern ambulance service in the U.S.
"The experiences the country had and the Vietnam war showed that people who were seriously injured could be salvaged and have productive lives," he said. "So the nation changed the entire way they looked at medical services."
Nash was determined to be part of that change, and modernize the department's medical services. So he struck a deal with then-state representative Harrison Chadwick. "He made a deal with me -- if I ran and got elected a Town Meeting member, he would help me get the ambulance into the fire department." So Nash did just that, and set off on a door-knocking campaign in his neighborhood.
On July 1, 1977, Nash brought a brand new ambulance to the fire department. But the novelty was not met with enthusiasm from everyone, Nash said. "They were strictly firefighters, they felt it was their mission," Nash said.
But Nash wasn't dismayed. He continued to work toward elevating the ambulance service to Advanced Life Support, which requires firefighters to also be paramedics. Nash went back to school to become a paramedic and in 2005, after hiring 12 paramedics to meet state mandate, Winchester was able to offer the ALS service, becoming one of the first departments in the area to provide the service.
Department's challenge
Over the years, Nash has struggled to recruit and keep qualified firefighters, a continuing challenge for the town, Nash said. Many young paramedics join the department but don't stay long, opting for higher paid positions in neighboring communities. Since the introduction of ALS, 30 paramedics, who were hired and trained, left to go to other departments, a loss of about $1.5 million in training costs.
"The department has become very young because of the transitory nature of employees," he explains. The department is losing its "middle" and soon, Nash said, will be missing the "top," as the older generation of firefighters retire. Fire codes and prevention efforts have reduced the number of fires today, making it difficult for firefighters to get hands-on firefighting experience. During Nash's first year at the department there were 12 second-alarm fires, he recalls. Now there are typically about two.
"There is nothing like actual firefighting experience," he said. "And that's missing today."
After becoming chief in 1998, Nash took on the tasks like budgeting, managing his four shift captains, hiring, and payroll. That translates to only going out with the crew for major fires. "I miss riding in the front seat of the engine -- you get your daily adrenaline flow. It doesn't come with sitting at a desk," he said.
Fire Prevention Officer Rick Tustin has worked with Nash for 33 years, including when Nash was Tustin's a shift captain. He described Nash as a "trusting" and "fair" leader. "Chief Nash afforded me the latitude to set up the fire prevention division as I felt it needed," said Tustin. "He's competent and easy-going; he knew what he needed to do and how to get things done."
Looking back on his four-decade career, Nash is proud of the department's progress when it comes to training, technology, and equipment. "But what I'm most proud of is the work that the firefighters do every single day," he said. "Because they do a great job."
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