Air Force's loss is Cheney Fire's gain

After graduating high school in the early 1990s, Tom Jenkins spent a year at various jobs in the economically depressed region near Flemington, W.V. What jobs were available - working in a factory or in a coal mine - didn't appeal to him, and things seemed listless until one day when his father gave him an ultimatum.

"Dad said 'you've got to do something productive with your life so go to college or go into the service,'" Jenkins said.

Not believing he was college material, he chose the latter and began a 23-year career in the U.S. Air Force that culminated with being selected Cheney's new fire chief late last year. Jenkins steps into the position left vacant since the departure of former chief Mike Winters in August 2016.

Upon selecting the Air Force, Jenkins was given nine job choices, of which he picked the fire service part of the branch. After completing fire academy training in San Angelo, Texas in 1995, Jenkins headed for his first duty station at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, stopping in West Virginia long enough to marry his high school sweetheart.

Jenkins tour at McGuire was interrupted by a one-year deployment at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia in 1998 and then another year assignment at an airfield in Honduras. Jenkins said he still wasn't sure what he wanted to do in the service, so the Air Force made him an offer - if he accepted being a fire chief they would guarantee him that career permanently.

The couple spent 10 years at McGuire, during which Jenkins helped build a new fire department at the base and his wife completed her nursing training program. After that, they headed to Fairbanks, Alaska for four years where Jenkins became a senior noncommissioned officer.

Jenkins then accepted a military trainer position at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. His duties there were to "mentor, mold and lead the next generation of Air Force officers," exposing the military side of their careers to what is essentially a collegiate environment at the academy.

The family - Jenkins and his wife now had three children - eventually moved to Wichita, Kan., thinking it would be their final assignment. But after three years, a move up to fire chief and eight months of serving as the executive assistant to the base's squadron commander, along with several medical conditions facing his wife, left Jenkins considering three locations for their next move: Arizona, South Carolina and Fairchild Air Force Base.

They chose Fairchild, partly because Jenkins said he doesn't care for heat, a lot because of the proximity of good medical facilities in Spokane for his wife and the reputation of the assignment.

"Over my career, people always told me Spokane is a phenomenal assignment," he said.

Jenkins arrived in June 2016, and served as the base's fire chief and six months as squadron superintendent. At a breakfast last summer in Cheney with other West Plains fire chiefs, he learned of the open Cheney department position.

"At that point I connected with other area fire chiefs who said 'If you have an opportunity to go to Cheney, jump on it,'" Jenkins said.

Jenkins was surprised when he was offered the position, and after some negotiating with the Air Force command, was released from military duty and became Cheney Fire Chief. From an equipment aspect, what he inherits now at the fire station on Fourth Street is "archaic" compared to Department of Defense fire apparatus.

"But it's the quality of people (in Cheney) that is the best," he said.

The city purchased a new main attack engine at the end of 2017, spending $750,00-$800,000 on the much needed upgrade that should be delivered later this year. Jenkins is also looking at other immediate needs such as new self-contained breathing apparatus air cylinders to replace existing units hovering on being out of date.

There is about $200,000 worth of upgrades needed with the department's fire station, including revamping its resident firefighters living quarters. The department is also understaffed - and in fact is afoul of state law requiring a minimum number of firefighters per call in order to operate safely.

To deal with that, Jenkins has instituted a part-time paid volunteer firefighter program, and has so far seen his hoped for 18 members sign up, with 14 attending the first meeting on March 1. With annual call volumes rising - most of which are medical - Jenkins said upgrades in equipment and more personnel are essential in fulfilling the department's mission.

"Our number one goal is to make sure everyone goes home safe each and every day," he said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.