Ottawa Fire Chief Haywood: 'Treat people like family'

When he retires next week as Ottawa’s fire chief, Steve Haywood will miss one of the secret pleasures he finds with his job.

It involves the times he makes the three-block walk from the fire station to City Hall, when people will wave or want to talk.

Heading south on Clinton Street to City Hall, by the time Haywood reaches Home Hardware typically someone will stop him to report a hydrant that needs attention, pose a question about department operations, or just to pass the time for a bit.

On the way back to the firehouse, Haywood walks north on La Salle Street where he has a similar experience.

He smiles at the thought of it.

“I won’t know all I’m going to miss until I’m gone for a while,” he told The Times. “But that’s one thing I do know for sure I will miss.”

It’s an extension, he said, of the close link firefighters enjoy with those they serve.

“People automatically trust you when you’re on the fire department,” he said. “When you go to their house they open the door for you to come in without hesitation. I don’t know any other job where you get that as much.”

On Thursday, June 28, Deputy Fire Chief Andy Borkowski will take over as the fire department’s new chief.

Ever since Haywood was a little kid he wanted to be a fireman, he said.

But first he got his schooling, graduating from Ottawa High School, Illinois Valley Community College and finally Illinois State University with a double degree in occupational safety and industrial technology. (Still later after he was on the fire department he went back to IVCC and earned an associate degree in fire science.)

Haywood wasn’t sure how to go about getting hired at the fire department so he wrote a letter to the fire chief at the time, Art Cunningham.

“He sent me back this nice letter explaining how the hiring process goes,” he said.

And not too long after that there was a notice in The Daily Times announcing plans for exams for firefighters.

Haywood, 58, was 27 when he started with the fire department on June 20, 1987.

Since then Haywood has been involved with a lot of the city’s big fires, such as those in the Jordan block, Anderman’s furniture store, the Union Bank and Green Mill restaurant.

In the 31 years Haywood has been with the fire department, no firefighter has lost his life.

The last “line of duty” death was in November 1983 when David Erickson died from a heart attack right after a fire.

“We know there are some calculated risks we have to take,” Haywood said. “We will definitely go into a burning building to look for somebody. If someone is inside, someone who made it outside can usually tell you what room they’re in, so at least you have that to go on. The worst situation is going to a house fire and asking if anybody is in there and they say they don’t know.

“We will do what we can to save property,” Haywood said. “But if the fire is to a point where it’s a choice between the property and firefighter’s life then we’re going to lose that property.”

In Haywood’s years with the department there have been a lot of changes. Most noticeable to citizens may be the equipment updates.

“Just since I’ve been chief we’ve gotten an engine, two ambulances, a boat, a pickup truck and a chief’s vehicle,” Haywood said. There also have been such things as new extraction tools and replacement turnout gear for the firefighters.

While the City Council has been supportive of the fire department, new purchases are not automatic, and do need to be justified, Haywood said.

Medical services also have changed. Today there are ambulances for emergencies and patient transfers.

“This department started out with (Emergency Medical Service) in the early 1960s when hardly anyone else was doing it,” Haywood said. “They used to call them first aid calls when I started. Now they call them medic calls. When I started here the older guys told me how when they got on scene with the first aid rig they would wait for the ambulance from the funeral home.”

When Haywood started there were emergency medical technicians whose services were limited to taking blood pressure, controlling bleeding, giving oxygen and performing CPR.

Now there are a large range of services and medicines.

The fire service is well known as a close, fraternal type of organization. But that also has changed somewhat, Haywood said.

“I think the guys when I started were a little bit closer,” he said. “We tended to know each other’s families more that now.”

He feels that’s a reflection of changes in society.

“When I grew up in my old neighborhood everybody knew everybody,” he said. “It’s not like that now.”

For instance, there was a time in Ottawa when it was common for a city water meter reader to enter a home after a single knock at the door.

“They’d call out ‘meter reader’ and then walk right in your house and go to the basement,” Haywood recalled.

Haywood said he will be starting out his retirement with very little in the way of plans.

“I have some things around the house I could get to right away,” he said. “But I didn’t want to commit to anything until I had some time to myself and figure out what’s going on.

“I told my wife the only thing I’m definitely going to do is get up every morning like I usually do at 5 or 6. Then I’ll start doing things and see where the day takes me,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m going to be laying around.”

Haywood does know he will have more time for his wife and three daughters.

His wife of 29 years, Jessica, works for the Regional Office of Education as the food co-op coordinator, arranging for the bulk purchase of food at a cost savings for area school districts.

His youngest daughter, Casey, is a student at Ball State University. Middle daughter Carly is preparing to attend Southern Illinois University in Carbondale to get a master's degree. And oldest daughter, Bethany, a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and the University of Central Missouri, works in Ottawa for Armstrong Associates and plans to get married in October.

Haywood still has advice for new firemen — advice which actually is pretty universal.

“What I pass along is what I learned from the older guys,” he said. “And that’s to treat the people the way you would want your family treated — no matter what the situation. You do that and it will take you a long way.”