Sean C. Morgan
As Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District’s newest battalion chief, Randy Whitfield is in very familiar territory.
While he has spent more than 22 years working at the Lebanon Fire District before resigning recently as an engineer-medic, Whitfield cut his teeth and spent much of the past 27 to 28 years as a volunteer firefighter in Sweet Home, where he has been heavily involved in coaching sports at all age levels, including high school varsity football and track. He has coached at least six of the paid staff members at SHFAD.
“I very much enjoyed working in Lebanon,” Whitfield said. He said he made many friendships there over the past two decades.
“There some very good officers and medics that I’ll miss.”
“He’s been here a long time,” said Fire Chief Dave Barringer. “He’s been an officer here a long time.”
He has a lot of experience, Barringer said. “He’s a communicator. With the battalion chief position, communication is a big deal. I think Randy shows a lot of integrity. I don’t worry about his motivation. He’s just trying to do his best for the community because he’s from here.”
Whitfield, 55, started at SHFAD on Jan. 3, filling a vacancy left by the retirement of Guy Smith.
He began volunteering with the Sweet Home Fire Department in 1990 or 1991, Whitfield said. He has been a volunteer much of the time since then.
“Some years I didn’t show up very much,” Whitfield said. He was busy coaching, which, he said, really has helped prepare him for this job. He continues to coach varsity track.
Whitfield grew up in Sweet Home. He moved away for a couple of years to attend Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas, where he studied theology.
“I thought I was going to be a preacher,” he said, but he didn’t like it and returned to Sweet Home where he went to work pulling wrenches and setting chokers for Tack Logging. He worked for other logging companies and drove truck for his father, Bob Whitfield.
He left again and lived in California, making custom doors, windows and molding. He returned to Sweet Home after his father had a heart attack to help with his father’s insurance business.
Firefighter Roy Gaskey suggested he volunteer as a firefighter, telling Whitfield, “I think you’ll like it.”
Whitfield didn’t think he would, but he gave it a shot.
“I got bitten by the bug pretty quickly,” Whitfield said. The department had several significant events about that time, including a fire at the Fischer Insurance, now owned operated by Craig Fentiman, and a neighboring pizza maker by Hoy’s Hardware.
That was his first call, he said. The other firefighters handed him a hose and told him to hold it in a doorway.
“It was so hot in there, I thought I’d walked into hell,” Whitfield said. He felt like his knees were burning. He saw what the other firefighters, like Dave Trask and Ron Sipe, were doing, and he figured if they could do it, he could too.
Soon, he joined the rescue squad. He enrolled in school to begin studying to be a medic, but that went on hold for financial reasons when his wife became pregnant with their daughter. Later he completed training through the intermediate level.
He went to work for Lebanon Fire Department in September 1995, and 2½ years ago graduated from Chemeketa Community College as a paramedic, the highest level of certification in the emergency medical service.
“There weren’t any openings in Sweet Home or I’d have come to Sweet Home then,” Whitfield said. At the time, the department had three paid medics, Smith, Jim DeMarsh and Dean Dirks, working in the old fire station at City Hall.
“I remember burning down the old fire station,” Whitfield said. “I’ve always enjoyed Sweet Home. I have a lot of fond memories here. Growing up, my brother and I, as kids, had a lot of fun. There’s a lot of opportunities other places, but I’ve always loved Sweet Home. Sweet Home’s been good to me.
“I like the people here (at the department). I love the chief. He’s a great guy. It’s a great group of people here. (Being a line officer) is something I’ve always wanted to do.”
He said his intent is to make life fun and happy for his crew and “give the people of Sweet Home the best of what I’ve got.
“It’s good to be here. I look forward to getting the opportunity to work here andd serve the people of Sweet Home.”
At the Fire Hall, Whitfield will continue the work Smith had been doing in vehicle maintenance, taking care of regular maintenance, the little things and some of the bigger repairs when he and other firefighters, like Josh Starha, have the time.
Despite his doubts early in life, he has thoroughly enjoyed the fire service.
“I like to work with people,” Whitfield said. “I enjoy being around people. I enjoy the challenge it brings.
“You have to be on top of things. The stakes are high. You’re dealing with lives and property. You deal with people in the worst situations, help them in the worst situations. You never quit. You never give up. You always do your best.”
Whitfield is married to Pamula Whitfield. They have six adult children, Nathan, Christian, Annie, Garrison, Cassie and Kylie, and two grandchildren.