Michele

Female

Helix, Oregon

United States

Profile Information:

Type of Organization
Fire/Rescue Department - Volunteer
Job Function
Fire Chief / Chief of Department, EMS Chief / Division Head
Years in Fire/EMS:
20 years
Primary Fire/EMS Department:
Helix, Oregon
Years With Department/Agency
10 years
Other Past or Current Departments and Organizations
District 12A Training Association
Apple Valley City Fire Department
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
San Bernardino County Fire Dept.
My Training:
FF2, EMT-B, Instructor 1 And you get the idea, 20 years of training adds up to a really long boring list of classes and certificates.
About Me:
Let's see, I grew up as the Captain's daughter, swore to myself that I would never work in the same station as my step dad because of the headaches that would cause. But about 6mos after turning 18, I couldn't stand to not be a part of it so I joined the local PCF station where he was also a Captain. Needless to say, there were challenging times but I wouldn't change it. I met my husband of 18 years in that dept. and got my first taste of the being a firefighter. The rest is history you might say. Over the course, I've tried to give up suppression because as a Mom it can be dangerous and little ones made it difficult to respond as much as I would have liked. I went into prevention and all the while my heart ached to be back on the engines. Following my heart, I returned to the suppression end of it and continued to work hard and to learn a lot. Recently I was promoted to Fire Chief. Now I'm REALLY working hard and learning A LOT! :) So in a nutshell, there's the Cliffnote version of my story. Zip me an email if you have any questions or comments.
Relationship Status:
Married
Facebook or Other Online Profile:
http://myspace.com/trooperchelly
Why I Joined Fire/EMS
It's in my blood. My Dad is a retired Captain for the Space Shuttle Rescue Team at Edwards AFB. After experiencing the fire service through him I knew there was nothing else that would satisfy me.
Why I Love Fire/EMS
being able to help my neighbor when no one else can.
Top Issues Facing Responders:
Being everything to everyone at any time and being good at it.

Comment Wall:

  • Benjamin Lunsford

    Hey lady! Thanks for the invite! Hope I can get a class in Feb at NFA. I hear the Ott House calling now!
  • Randy Macey

    Check out Roll Call Groups and put some info about your Fire House in... Like to hear what your station is like, what you have as well as for number for firefighters as well as number of calls. Pass it around to your Firefighter Friends too....Easy way to located this group is go to my site and look at the bottom left. Short cut if you have a hard time locating this.

    Also as a Training Officer, theres the Trainers Corner too. Like to hear some of what your doing for training or what areas need to be addressed...

    Enjoy, and stay safe!

    Mace
  • turk182

    welcome to the site an thank you for excepting my friend request.
  • Joe Totero

    Thanks for the add.

    Stay safe & sane!
  • Randy Macey

    Well hope you have a great weekend with the company, I'm working this weekend shift. Had a nice lightening storm go through last night. Couple of call outs, nothing really. But a big relief for the fact that we got some major rain. Was getting busy again with grass fires....
  • Coach

    Welcome!!
  • Kevin King

    Welcome to FFN, hope you enjoy it as much as our gang does
  • Brett Bennell

    hey michele

    big hello from the land down under, hope your having a great day

    cheers brett
  • Randy Macey

    Glad to hear you had a great weekend and you like your up-coming sister-n-law. Can be ugly when you start off on a bad foot. And it's sometimes nice to get a different culture in the family. I'm native and married into a Portuguese family. Enjoy there food and culture, have great brother-n-law as well as a big family now. But they are very close!

    For Caledon, we are just north of Toronto, Ontario Canada. 9 Stations and growing, mostly rural area. At this time we have 1 hall which has a day and afternoon crew full time. Rest of the stations are Vol. but see two more going at least full time day shift. This will cover all 9 stations during the day unless they require more help. About 280 firefighters at this time. We have 12 more starting new recuit training in a couple of weeks. So that means I will as well as a crew of other Training Officers will be busy with training.

    Both the past and present Chief have kept Caledon Fire up todate with the equipt. as well as trucks. Great training programs, and they hire with in before going outside.

    I'm at the level which is pretty good, as I do not have the polictics to much. I guess that is your area that is a tough thing to deal with....

    Mace
  • JP Moore

    Good afternoon chief. From the looks of your pictures, life in and around your firehouse looks entertaining to say the least ~ Thanks for sharing. Welcome to FFN
  • JP Moore

    Well said!
  • Coach

    We are 15 miles due east of the City of Pittsburgh. About 30 miles west of the "mountains". Very nice area, and great for the dog! Plenty of woods to practice his search techniques
  • Brett Bennell

    Hi Michele

    I'm glad your husband had a great time over here in Australia, its a shame you couldn't make it.
    i spent a few weeks in your country earlier this year, although I didn't get to Oregon. i was visiting a Friend in San Francisco whos a firefighter there and had a great time, my kids had a ball as well.
    So you wanted to Know a bit about Melbourne, well its the second largest city in Australia with a population of around 2.5 mil. The nightlife is fantastic with heaps of restaurants, theatres , pubs , clubs and also a casino.
    Sport is a way of life in australia and melbourne is the sporting capital, most of the major sporting events happen here.
    I work for the Metro fire brigade which services most of the metropolitan area, we have 50 stations and around 1500 paid firefighters on 4 shifts.
    i'm stationed at no. 15 station which is in the suburb of Heidelberg about 6km from downtown. its a fairly busy station and we have 4 crew and a pumper. I'm a leading firefighter which i think is the same as your lieutenant.
    Okay I'll have to finish now as our shift is nearly finished, hope to hear from you soon and find out about your town and dept, hope you have a great day,
    bye for now
    Brett
  • Joe Totero

    Thanks for the add.

    Stay safe & sane!
  • Darian Stevens

    WOW.......Nice eyes...Be safe....Darian
  • Brett Bennell

    Hi Michele.
    yeah I guess you could call it a big city, not as big as London or New york but big enough.
    how big is your city and dept?
    We work a 10/14 system, 2 10 hr day shifts, 2 14 hr night shifts , then 4 days off.
    What do you work?
    Were mainly a structure company, but every now and then we assist the country depts when they have a large bushfire, we all have wildfire training and a set of wildfire PPE. So were prepared but it doesn't happen very often.
    We do get some smaller grass and scrub fires in our own turn out area but nothing a few pumpers can't handle.
    Bye for now
    brett
  • Michele

  • William J. Bailey

    CommentYou.com is your One Stop Shop
    Get More at COMMENTYOU.com
    Thanks for the ADD!!
  • S.C., Captain, iceman

  • Donnie Bathje

    Thanks for the add.......Hope to chat with you real soon
  • Joe Totero

  • turk182

    hope all is well and please stay safe
  • michael m madsen

    hejsa Firefighter from Denmark....Is your friend..!..You have some great looking photos!
  • Danny

    Hi there hows things going..no i have a bunch of those too in a filei will post some of those..and barry i believe with with benton #2
  • Wayne Mitchell

    Hi Michele, thank you for the add, hun.... How are you doing?
  • scott kauhn

    just thought id say hi stay safe