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By DAVE DOMESCIK | Staff Writer

PELHAM – After nearly 30 years of serving Pelham citizens within the Pelham Fire Department, Chris Carpenter is calling it a career.

The deputy fire chief was honored during a Pelham City Council meeting on Monday, March 17. Mike Reid, the chief of Pelham’s Fire Department, recognized Carpenter at the meeting.

“Chief Carpenter has numerous awards, so many that I couldn’t remember them all,” Reid said. “We are committed to meet the needs of our citizens to conduct ourselves as professionals with compassion and efficiency, and that truly is what Chief Carpenter has been for Pelham Fire Department and for the citizens of Pelham. Thank you very much for your service.”

At the meeting, Carpenter took the time to share remarks on his career, sharing the importance of the space he was standing in.

“In April 1996, then Fire Chief Gary Waters invited me for an interview in this very building,” Carpenter said. “This used to be Fire Station 1… it’s interesting to me that I’m able to address the leadership of Pelham pretty close to the same spot where I started out.”

Carpenter further expressed the passion and commitment to Pelham he possessed in his career.

“Serving this city and the citizens has been one of the greatest honors of my life, and I’m incredibly thankful for the experiences and the friendships I’ve made over the years,” Carpenter said. “The brotherhood and sisterhood that we (the fire department) share is a true brotherhood and sisterhood.”

Carpenter shared his beginnings with the fire department.

“I started on May 1st, 1996,” Carpenter said. “I was a firefighter/EMT to start with. We were trained at Pelham. They had their own rookie school back then. I was 30 years old when I got hired. For a firefighter, that’s a little late to get in the game.”

After getting started with the Pelham Fire Department, Carpenter went to medical school in 2004 and became a paramedic with the department a year later. Carpenter wore various hats within the department; he served as a lieutenant, captain and battalion chief before becoming deputy chief.

Despite all of his success in various roles, Carpenter says that he wasn’t focused on the titles.

“I never really thought to seek to become a deputy chief,” Carpenter said. “I’ve always been somebody that didn’t shun or stay away from promotion, but I wasn’t really seeking it.”

Early in his career, Carpenter gained an interest in the public education aspect of fire departments.

“When I first got in the fire service as a firefighter, for whatever reason I was really interested in the public education side of it,” Carpenter said. “We didn’t have a person that was just for pub ed. I was really interested in it, and whenever our fire inspector at the time did fire prevention, I would go with him and hang out at the schools for a week.”

As he continued to enjoy public education, Carpenter had an opportunity to increase Pelham FD’s outreach.

“We ended up finding out about a dog in Kentucky that was doing a fire prevention program,” Carpenter said. “We talked to (the dog’s handler) about getting a dog, and we found a puppy. We got the puppy and trained it.”

The puppy, named Scout, became an integral part of fire education in the state.

“For about six to seven years, I traveled Scout around (the counties in the state),” Carpenter said. “We had a program called ‘Get Out With Scout,’ and it was basically a home escape plan program that the dog did.”

Carpenter outlined the details of the program, including incredible feats from the canine that taught children about fire safety.

“Scout would crawl under smoke, he would check a door, he would go outside to his meeting place, he knew how to dial 911 on a really big standup telephone,” Carpenter said. “We would teach kids about home escape plans using the dog to kind of show those behaviors. He could also stop, drop and roll.”

Carpenter and Scout went to various schools and events over the years. Carpenter’s efforts garnered him Firefighter of the Year and the first public fire life safety educator award for the state of Alabama.

Along with the ‘Get Out With Scout’ program, Carpenter also served with the honor guard and the scuba diving program in the department. After receiving various honors, Carpenter is still most impressed and proud of the team he worked with over the years.

“The personnel that we have working (with Pelham FD) will rise to the challenge,” Carpenter said. “When the cards are on the table, those guys can do the business… hey deliver probably one of the highest quality services of any fire department.”

The Pelham Fire Department’s high quality can easily be attributed to Carpenter, one of the most decorated servants in the department’s storied history.

For more information on the Pelham Fire Department, visit Pelhamalabama.gov/185/Fire-Department.