Fairfield Fire Department training coordinator leaving after 35 years

Russ Kammer has spent half of his life being an invaluable asset to the Fairfield Fire Department, so much so that when the part-time firefighter retires later this month it will take someone working full-time to tackle what he does.

That’s according to Fairfield Fire Chief Don Bennett, who’s worked with Kammer for the vast majority of Kammer’s 35 years on the job.

Kammer, 70, has served as the fire department’s training coordinator for the past 25 years, working a day job for most of those years starting at 5 a.m. and then arriving at the fire station each weekday at 3 p.m. to work his regular four-hour shift, as well as making runs at night.

“You could set a clock by him,” Bennett said. “I heard that key go into the office door, I knew it was 3 p.m.”

Kammer said he developed a direction in his life — and a love for firefighting — when he was assigned to a firefighter position during his 1964 to 1968 tour of duty with the U.S Air Force during the Vietnam War.

“It lit my fire … so to speak,” he said. “I knew I wanted to pursue that, it was just a matter of doing it.”

But when Kammer returned to civilian life with the intention of pursuing the job as a career, he found few openings.

“I did put in some applications and didn’t have any luck,” he said. “It was kind of a downer.”

Kammer, who joined the fire department in 1981 as a firefighter/EMT, was promoted to the positions of lieutenant, EMS coordinator and district captain before being named training coordinator in 1991. He was instrumental in pushing for the department’s training complex on Groh Lane, promoting it for several years before Fairfield City Council took action on it, Bennett said.

That training facility is one of very few in the area and “really is a regional asset for us,” he said.

“It’s hard to describe the dedication he’s had for the city,” Bennett said. “It is just immeasurable. Russ has always been one I could count on. We like to use the terminology of someone having your back. That’s Russ.”

Ensuring the department is consistently meeting and exceeding training standards means not only staying certified, but keeping department staff and others out of harm’s way during potentially dangerous runs, Kammer said.

“We are responsible for your safety, but in essence, you are responsible for your safety and the safety of the people that you are on a crew with,” he said. “Everybody’s totally responsible, not just an officer, not just an incident commander. Everybody’s totally responsible for everybody.”

He said it has been “gratifying” to keep the department proactive and state-of-the-art over the years, including when it receives new equipment or a change in policy or procedure.

“You train and train and train and when they take it out in the field and it saves a life or property, the gratification is what it’s all about,” Kammer said. “That it works. They’ve learned it, they can apply it.”

Bennett said the department is transitioning Kammer’s responsibility to Capt. Jeff Kenworthy to fill the void until they find someone to fill the vacancy he’ll create. Kammer manages the training division, has three full-time lieutenants report to him in regards to training, maintains all the records and handles all the fire certifications and audits in the state division of EMS.

“It’s a pretty extensive job,” Bennett said. “We all at some point of time in our career will be replaced by someone else. Russ represents a very unique challenge for us to find someone with the level of dedication and pride and willingness to serve the community that Russ has demonstrated.”

Staff writer Michael D. Pitman contributed to this report.

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