Jumpline magazine JUNE 2023 pages - Flipbook - Page 46
46
I was There when it Happened
CHIEF DOWNEY
RECAPS A FEW
EVENTS THAT
SHAPED THE
DEPARTMENT WE
KNOW TODAY
Part 2 of 2
1988 - 2019
Board of Merit
Prior to what we now know as the Board of Merit, the department had a program whereby they would select civilian and
uniformed employees of the month. At the Annual Benevolent
Salute To Our Own Dinner, an employee of the year would be
chosen from the twelve employees of the month.
In the late 90s, I had submitted one of my firefighters (Bobby
Reddick) for employee of the month for his selfless, off-duty
services to help prevent drownings in our local canals. One
day, while out driving in territory, I noticed in the backyard of
a home along the Little River, a highly visible yellow colored
post in an orange Home Depot bucket with a rope and life ring
hanging from it. I asked my driver to turn around and go back
so that I could investigate further but we didn’t need to. From
the back, Bobby stated he put it there. All along the waterway,
every couple of homes, he had placed additional ones.
Turns out, after a recent fire in an abandoned warehouse, we
discovered stacks of lumber in good shape. We could not
identify an owner of the property, and no one knew where this
wood came from or its purpose. I alerted the TRT Bureau that
they might be able to make use of some of this for cribbing.
They kindly accepted. What I didn’t realize is that Bobby also
saw a use. On his own time, and at his own expense, he picked
up some of the 4 X 4s, painted them with a very common yellow paint, obtained buckets and cement as well as the rope
and rescue ring, and assembled these lifesaving devices. He
would load a few of them in the trunk of his car and drop them
off at various homes along the river that would accept them.
So, what does this have to do with the Board of Merit? Well,
like I said, I put Bobby in for uniformed employee of the month.
I figured this was a slam dunk but not so lucky. The department had already chosen someone else for that month. Soon
after getting the bad news, I was traveling home from another
awesome week at FDIC (on my own time and own dime by the
way) with Tom Quinn (the guy who makes things happen) and
was venting about the current recognition system. I couldn’t
understand why there was only ONE employee of the month
and there was no distinction between the award the uniform
employee received and the one the civilian received. I did not
imply that one was more important than the other, but simply
the fact that all acts are not equal. I mentioned that the FDNY
has an annual Medal Day and that I had attended in the past.
They would recognize hundreds of folks, and many would receive the same award from different acts of courage and valor.
Obviously, I inspired Tom because the next thing I knew, he
had copies of what FDNY did as well as Miami-Dade Police,
Dave Downey, Ret.
the FHP and I think Boston Fire.
We assembled a steering committee made up of myself, Tom,
Ray Bell, Mike Hemmer, Al Darring, David James and probably
a couple of others I forgot. We developed the categories and
criteria and recruited members for the board. The first Chair
was Chief Nelson Bradshaw.
After much arm twisting by Tom, the Benevolent Board agreed
to forgo the firefighter of the year award and in its place, allow us to present the first meritorious service awards at the
Salute to Our Own Dinner. The first one was a mess! Our
presentation was sandwiched between a bad comedian and
dessert at the Benevolent Dinner. We had our first medal, a
bronze I believe, and wondered how we were going to present
it. So Maria Chin, there attending the dinner as a member of
the Honor Guard, appropriated a very nice serving tray, with
a white napkin over it. We placed the medal on the tray, and
she presented it. We did one or two more Salute to Our Own
Dinners and then created what we know today as Medal Day.
Air Rescue North. Our 2nd Helicopter.
After the tragic murder of Dr. Bradley Silverman at his office
in Aventura in 1999, there was considerable discussion about
having an additional Trauma Center in North Dade. Jackson
Health System, aka Jackson, lobbied the County Commission suggesting that a second Air Rescue unit would be much
more practical, located at Opa-Locka Airport in North Dade,
and they (Jackson) would pay for the start-up. In less than 2
months, there was discussion, approval by the BOCC, and I
had a check for $6.4 million for the purchase of a new helicopter forwarded to me in Special Ops on December 29, 1999 that
I had to FedEx to Bell Helicopter, so they had it before January
1, 2000.
With little time for deliberation or research centered around
Jackson paying for the helicopter, 9 nine new pilots and some
operating funds for the first year, we quickly realized that while
we initially had one spare aircraft for one alert aircraft, it wasn’t
practical to have one spare for 2 alert aircraft. This would have
to be purchased a year after the new unit went into service.
Placing the new aircraft into service became my job. While
I was tremendously overwhelmed as a new captain being
tasked with this huge project, this was probably one of the best
things that could have happened to me. What nobody realized
was that Brad Silverman was the son of Stanley (Stan) Silverman. Stan and I met in the late-80’s and taught BLS and ALS
for years together. Stan was one of the first paramedics with
the North Miami Beach FD which merged with MDFR in 1978,
so actually Stan was one of ours. I never realized it until years
June 2023 | JUMPLINE Magazine
