Fair Lawn, NJ (June 3, 2019) – The Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) and EMS Today are pleased to announce that AJ Heightman, MPA, EMT-P   former Editor-in-Chief of JEMS and EMS Today Program Chairman, has been appointed Editor Emeritus of JEMS and EMS Today.

This honor comes in recognition of his accomplishments, commitment and the impact he has made over the past 25 years to JEMS and EMS Today, as well as the past 50 years to the EMS industry.

Well respected in the EMS industry, AJ’s dedication to his job and the industry has been essential to the success and growth of both JEMS and EMS Today.

In his new role, AJ will remain actively engaged as an advisor, ensuring the continued welfare and success of JEMS and EMS Today. This new role acknowledges AJ’s unique and significant role in the past, present and future.

AJ will be the dignified and recognized image of the JEMS and EMS Today brand and be representing the brands in all mediums and in person upon request. He will continue to provide input on editorial direction and consult with the JEMS editorial and EMS Today teams regarding trends, innovations and issues.

Eric Schlett, Senior Vice President, Clarion US | Fire & Rescue Group said, “In his new position as editor emeritus, AJ will be our brand advisor, the person who retains institutional knowledge of the enterprise and continues to provide the team counsel into the future. What changes now is that, after 25 years with JEMS, AJ will no longer be involved in administrative and operational tasks. Freeing him up to be our Ambassador for JEMS and EMS, remaining in close contact with leaders in the field, able to serve as a consultant to agencies, advertisers and manufacturers to help them better understand the EMS market, and continue to teach and lecture to EMS providers and leaders, a well-known passion for AJ”

AJ’s new role will also allow him the liberty to take more time off to spend with his family, do more work with his Therapy Dogs “Charlie” and “Cooper”, do more consulting, expand his lecturing in the EMS industry, and remain a key advisor the JEMS and EMS Today teams.

AJ Heightman says, “My new role is exciting because it will allow me to visit more EMS systems in the US and internationally, spend quality time on the streets with crews and supervisors on ride-alongs and write articles about them without the pressure of having editorial tasks and deadlines as I have had in the past.”

“We are proud and grateful for AJ 25 years of commitment to JEMS and EMS Today. We look forward to continuing to work with AJ in this advisory capacity as continue to grow these important brands,” notes Eric Schlett, Vice President, Clarion US, Fire & Rescue Group.

About Clarion US
Founded in 1995, Urban Expositions, now operating as Clarion US and owned by Clarion Events, produces and manages a portfolio of 36 trade and consumer events, serving a range of industry sectors including Gift, Souvenir, Art, Aviation, Foodservice, Specialty Retail, Gaming, Automotive, Enthusiast Lifestyle and Fire & Rescue, with offices in Kennesaw, GA, Chicago, IL, Trumbull, CT, Portland, OR, Boca Raton, FL, Fair Lawn, NJ and Tulsa, OK. www.urban-expo.com

About Clarion Fire & Rescue
Clarion’s Fire & Rescue Group provides critical cutting-edge firefighting and emergency medical service news, education, equipment and hands-on training. Through our industry leading publications, digital media and events Clarion’s Fire & Energy Group covers the latest developments and industry standards in apparatus and equipment, clinical breakthroughs, and training for firefighters, EMTs

By Bill Adams

If you want to stir up a hornet’s nest or play catch with a live hand grenade, bring up the subject of replacing volunteers with paid (permanent or career) firefighters. Morning coffee with the Raisin Squad turned into a donnybrook when the topic was broached. Some white hairs got so upset and vocal, false teeth started chattering, and hearing aids had to be turned down. Being former volunteers, it was natural that volunteer departments were staunchly defended regardless of a lack of staffing, failed recruitment and retention programs, and general lack of interest or time constraints of the younger generation. Some geezers like myself can’t accept that some newbies (AKA probies) don’t have the same degree of enthusiasm we had.

Granted, there are some volunteer entities that enjoy full membership and waiting lists to join. Those that don’t—are jealous. For volunteer departments struggling with crew numbers, the transition to becoming “staffed” can be long, arduous, and at times very contentious. The intent of this column is to look at how some departments addressed the problem as well as those that are anticipating doing so. I take no sides. Whether career staffing is or may become represented by an organized professional association is irrelevant for this conversation and is not addressed. But, it is a topic worthy of later discussion. 

“I reluctantly accept the volunteer train is leaving the station and probably will not be returning.”

I’ve had the opportunity to observe a couple transitions. The first was my father’s former fire company. Seven of the city’s villages had a fire station with an independent fire company (department) operating out of each. At beginning of World War II, dozens of men in each station left for the war, forcing the city to put a paid person in each. The start of the Korean conflict saw another staffing drain and the addition of a second paid man in each. Volunteerism never made a strong comeback. The villages were turning into built-up suburbia. The handwriting was on the wall. The city eventually purchased aerial ladders staffed with a career person for two of the stations running city service ladder trucks. It was difficult for the companies to muster six people to throw a bangor ladder! The city eventually went to a fully career department, and the few remaining volunteers became “callmen” who were paid per call. The transition was relatively smooth albeit difficult for a few of the die-hard volunteers to swallow. Some of them said the only thing that really aggravated them was the new career chief disliked commercial rigs. When the city went paid, he took the commercial rigs off the run cards. Half the stations had relatively new, compliant rigs on commercial chassis with 500-gallon tanks. They were replaced by compliant custom rigs already in each station that had smaller tanks and, in some cases, smaller pump capacities and were 15+ years old! In a few years the callmen were phased out. Before the transition, a structural alarm was answered by two station’s engines with two career firefighters each plus an aerial ladder with one more. If volunteers were available, a few more rigs “might” show up. After the transition, 10 career firefighters, including a duty chief, were on each assignment. That department continued to grow and increase staffing.

Another town’s volunteer entity ran five engines, an aerial ladder, a tanker, and two rescue trucks out of two stations. In the good ole days, most structural calls would empty both barns. Because of a dramatic increase in runs and a decline in staffing