Interim Fire Chief Donald Hurme (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Most people don't know what it's like to be the one rushing into a burning building while everyone else is rushing out, but Harvard's interim Fire Chief Donald Hurme knows exactly what that feels like. During his more than 40 years as a firefighter, he has experienced it many times. He also knows what it's like to hand a person out an upper story window to a waiting firefighter, give CPR at the scene of an automobile accident, and put his life in direct danger over and over again.

Hurme (pronounced with the final "e") has been on the job for about a month and a half and plans to remain until June or July to help transition a new chief. In 1996 Massachusetts named Hurme as Firefighter of the Year and awarded him the Medal of Honor. He's finding people to be very friendly and is enjoying his time in Harvard. He complimented the Harvard firefighters for their very good skills and says they have been helpful to him, filling him in on how things have been done. He's observed that the firefighters have great camaraderie among them and that they do a lot of volunteer work in the community.

One of Hurme's first tasks was to update the job description for chief, which he said was mostly a matter of clarification. Hurme firmly believes that Harvard is busy enough to need a full-time fire chief. The town has three engines, a tanker, and a forestry truck housed at the town center station and engine number 1 and a reserve pumper at Still River. Harvard is a paid-call department, which means that the firefighters get an hourly wage for calls they go on. When a call comes in to Dispatch, the dispatcher radios out the needed response. Finding a full complement of firefighters can become a challenge in a difficult economy because some of the squad members work outside of town and may have to choose between remaining at their jobs or responding to a call, for significantly less pay.

Asked in a recent interview what his goals are while he is interim chief, Hurme replied that he will focus on communication. He plans to keep the Board of Selectmen informed through frequent memos, as well as by a monthly report. Just as important is keeping lines of communication open between him and the firefighters, and he will explore with them ways of accomplishing that.

Although he didn't state it as a goal, it is clear that Hurme values constantly progressing toward better ways of doing things, especially in the area of safety procedures. He said of himself, "I'll never be satisfied." He used the metaphor of a ladder, saying that it's important to urge people to reach for the next rung, not to be satisfied until they reach a little higher. Hurme observed that firefighting, like other service professions, can get shackled by tradition and not try new ideas simply because things have always been done a certain way.

Prior to coming to Harvard, Hurme served as fire chief in Townsend from 1986 until his retirement in 2003. Before that he was a full-time firefighter in Lexington. He received his first training certificate in 1968 in Princeton and remained in the paid-call fire department there until 1980. Asked if he had always wanted to be a fireman "when he grew up," Hurme laughingly remarked that he'll never grow up and then turned serious, to say that firefighting is in his blood. He was named after an uncle who died a few years before Hurme was born. It was only many years later that he learned that his uncle Donald, a firefighter, had been killed in the line of duty.

Hurme reflected on how different the job of chief is now from what it was years ago. The image of a fire chief sitting around the station waiting for a call and then leading the charge to the fire has been replaced by the reality of a fire chief surrounded by piles of paperwork. More and more the chief resembles the CEO of a company, immersed in matters of budget, scheduling, planning, and managing. Asked if he missed being more hands-on, Hurme admitted that he did miss it because he's an action-oriented person. However, as he's gotten older, he realizes how physically demanding the field work is. He still goes on calls if needed, but "firefighting is a young person's profession." He has every confidence in the firefighters.

Chief Hurme (bottom left) responding to a house fire last month. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Hurme talked about just how demanding the job of firefighting is, both physically and emotionally. "It's a labor-intensive industry," he said. He explained that each firefighter has to carry equipment weighing 30 to 40 pounds and has to be able to manage a hose carrying water that weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. Firefighting is a team effort; it takes a minimum of eight to 10 people. In addition to the people actually fighting the fire, there need to be a commander, an operations officer, and a safety officer. It takes at least two people to man the hose and one to manage the pump. Safety standards require a backup truck and another line—"You never go in alone," he said. "We're not in the business of getting hurt." Each firefighter has to trust his fellow firefighters; his life may literally depend on them. Firefighters attend training two times a month, paid for by the town.

Fires aren't the only dangers in the job, Hurme said: there are the people. He talked about one call to a burning barn whose owner took a shot at him, even though he was dressed in uniform and arrived with lights flashing. Another time when he was attending in an ambulance, the victim grabbed his tie and tried to strangle him. (Here Hurme showed the lesson he learned from that experience by taking off his clip-on tie.)

Clearly the role of a firefighter is a dangerous and challenging one, and is one that can cause incredible stress. Hurme recalled a vivid memory of being at the scene of a fatal accident with one of his young firefighters who looked into the wrecked car and discovered that the victim was a classmate.

Then there is the stress of meeting expectations. As public workers, firefighters are held to a higher standard than most people. That's as it should be, said Hurme, but it takes its toll. Hurme shared his own experience with stress and post-traumatic syndrome: "It was like a beach ball that I kept pushing down. It kept popping back up and I kept pushing it down. I got tired." To deal with his own stress and traumatic experiences Hurme spent time at On-Site Academy in western Mass., a residential treatment and training center exclusively for emergency workers. He is now a counselor and house manager at a Westminster facility of On-Site Academy.

Hurme has also been involved on the other side of active duty. For 28 years he has been a part-time instructor and coordinator at Massachusetts Fire Academy in Stow. He says he will probably return to teaching when his work in Harvard is finished.

Hurme says he's seen more in his lifetime than most people will ever see, and it's clear that witnessing so many dangers and tragedies has taken a toll on him. Despite this, he still "wants to give something back." It's apparent that he's doing this through his role as fire chief, through his teaching and counseling, and, most importantly, by being himself—a role model of integrity and commitment.