By David Anderson
The Aegis
BEL AIR, M.D. — Mark Johnson was elected chief of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company this week, the pinnacle of a volunteer fire service career that started 18 years ago as the result of seeing an ad in the newspaper.
Johnson, a resident of Bel Air, was 34 years old, with two young children, in 1998 when he was sitting in the Bagel Works restaurant near the main South Hickory Avenue firehouse, reading The Aegis. He had seen an ad in the paper for fire company volunteers, and he just happened to look up and see a vehicle leave the firehouse for an emergency call.
“One of the best decisions I’ve ever made is coming up here,” Johnson, now 52, said while in the main firehouse vehicle bay Thursday. “You meet such a great group of people.”
Johnson was elected chief in a special election during a company business meeting Tuesday evening. The votes were cast electronically by about 75 company members who attended the meeting.
Johnson succeeds former Chief Rick Davis, who resigned Aug. 8 after having served as chief since June of 2014. Johnson will lead the company until its annual regular election for all officers Dec. 6, according to spokesperson Rich Gardiner.
Bel Air has 225 volunteer firefighters and EMS workers and about 50 paid EMS workers, according to Gardiner.
It is usually one of the busiest companies in Harford County, which does not have a full-time paid fire and EMS service but is served by 12 volunteer fire and EMS companies. Many companies have individual paid EMS to augment volunteers and handle an increasing volume of ambulance calls countywide.
“In today’s world, 80 percent of what we’re doing is EMS,” Gardiner said.
Johnson had been Bel Air’s first assistant chief, the third highest-ranking fire line officer,
Deputy Chief Mike Walker had been leading the company since Davis tendered his resignation. Walker will remain deputy chief, the second-highest rank.
Bill Snyder moved from second assistant chief, the fourth-highest rank, to first assistant chief. Steve Cox, a former chief and assistant chief, will succeed Snyder as the second assistant chief, according to Gardiner.
Johnson has been a fire lieutenant and a fire captain, as well as an EMS lieutenant and captain, and served as treasurer on the company’s board of directors.
“When you take all that together, you have a well-rounded individual,” Gardiner said.
Johnson did not have a background as a first responder before he joined the fire company, though.
He has worked as a pharmacist at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore County for the past 33 years.
Johnson grew up in Rosedale; his father was a mechanic at the Domino Sugar plant in Baltimore, and his mother was a homemaker.
Being in a volunteer fire company was something that had been in the back of his mind since he was a teenager, but he did not have the time while handling academics and activities in high school and college, and later pharmacy school.
His wife, Peggy, works as a nurse at Bel Air Health and Rehabilitation Center. They have two children, Andrew, 27, and Elizabeth, who is 24 years old.
Johnson noted his employer and family have been very supportive of his work with the fire company, but his children have not yet expressed an interest in following in his footsteps, because of their personal commitments.
Johnson has had to leave work at a moment’s notice to handle a call, get out of bed in the middle of the night or even leave in the midst of a holiday or family function. Other fire company members make the same sacrifices.
“The time that we have up here [in the firehouse], it’s taken away from someone else, and usually it’s a significant other,” he said.
Johnson still handles fire and EMS calls, even though he is now “the point person” for the fire company, representing it at Harford County functions and answering to the board of directors.
He handles administrative matters, as opposed to more operational matters as an assistant chief.
“We try to raise the bar,” he said. “We try to make sure we’re a professional department that just happened to be volunteers.
Johnson joined when former Chief Richard “Dick” Woodward, who died in April, was leading the company, and he has tried to incorporate lessons he has learned from Chief Woodward and his successors into his leadership style.
“Each one, from him forward, has been somewhat of a mentor,” he said.
Johnson had handled many major incidents during his career, but the calls that stick with him are ones where people have been able to thank him, even during a minor situation.
“You give them some care and compassion,” he said. “They’re so grateful that you’ve been there to help them out.”
Copyright 2016 The Aegis