By Kevin Cole
Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska)
Copyright 2007 The Omaha World-Herald Company
OMAHA, Neb. — A nearly 30-year career on the Omaha Fire Department might not have happened for Assistant Fire Chief Jim Love if the Police Department had called him first.
“I went downtown to apply for the Police Department, and afterward, when I turned to walk away, the lady said, ‘Are there any other city jobs you would be interested in applying for?’
“I said, ‘What else have you got?’” Love recalled. “I just wanted to work.”
The Police Department’s loss proved to be the Fire Department’s gain as Love caps his career of 29 years, 11 months and four days when he retires June 21.
Love, 50, graduated from South High School in 1974 and joined the Fire Department in 1977.
Fire Chief Robert Dahlquist said Love’s willingness to continue to learn has been a big contributor to his success.
“Few people that I have seen throughout my career seem to understand their role in the fire service as well as he does,” Dahlquist said. “He has continued to seek additional training and done remarkably well in that training.
“It’s terrific that someone near the end of a 30-year career is still burning with the same excitement as the day that he came on the job.”
Love’s fervor is especially evident when he talks about his 10 years as a full-time paramedic and later when he led the emergency medical services bureau.
The enthusiasm for emergency medicine is apparently shared by Love’s family. His wife, Capt. Shaya Love, is a paramedic with the Fire Department as is his daughter, Julie Condon. His son, Paul, works for an electronics firm.
Love said he has no plans for retirement “other than to teach the grandkids how to fish.”
The start of Love’s career coincided with the decision by thenFire Chief Vernon Van Scoy to implement a paramedic program.
The first paramedic training began in 1976, but the program was not operational until legal details were worked out by the Legislature in 1978.
“When we first started, we had to get permission from a doctor to do just about anything,” Love said. “We called the hospital and described the symptoms, and a doctor would tell us to insert an IV or administer medications. Within 10 years, we no longer had to call.
“The (medical community’s) skepticism about whether we could do the job went by the wayside.”
Love worked as a paramedic for 10 years out of the fire station near 34th Street and Ames Avenue. It’s one of the busiest in the city, but he never regretted his time on the street.
“For the most part, the citizens of Omaha appreciate the fire service,” Love said. “We realize that we come into situations where the heat of the moment has tempers running high, but our guys are pretty good at dealing with people and defusing the situation. You want to make sure people know you are there to help.”
Helping injured children and elderly people can be tough on a paramedic, Love said, but it was seeing critically ill or injured victims his own age that troubled him most.
“It was those people that I would look back on after a call and think how precious life is, how quick things can happen,” he said. “So I try to smile a little more and be more friendly to people because you just don’t know when your time is going to be up.”
A career of Love
1977: Began career on Omaha Fire Department
1984: Promoted to fire captain
1985: Graduated from paramedic training, Creighton University
1989: Associate degree in fire protection technology, University of Nebraska at Omaha
1996: Promoted to battalion chief
1996: Bachelor of arts degree, fire administration, Western Illinois University
1997: Became battalion chief of emergency medical services bureau
2002: Promoted to assistant chief
Graduate of Executive Fire Officers Program, National Fire Academy
Source: Omaha Fire Department