Ellwood City Fire Chief Completes Top Tier Training

“When I am called to duty, God, whenever flames may rage;
Give me the strength to save some life, whatever be its age.”
From a Firefighter’s Prayer

Rick Meyers knows a little bit about raging flames and saving lives.

One of those lives stands out in his mind. It was a patient that his department performed CPR on, and her heart had to be defibrillated to resume beats. Every year after on the date her life was saved, the woman stopped to eat lunch with the firefighters. One of those years, she exclaimed that if she didn’t survive, the firefighters would be paying for their own lunch.

“That’s why no matter what, this is the best job in the world,” he said.

Myers isn’t a fan of praise and prefers modesty, but it’s hard to deny the true difference he makes.

Ellwood City Fire Chief Rick Myers receives an accommodation from Ellwood City Borough Manager David Allen.

“Being able to give someone a second chance at life or a family member the time to say goodbye is the rewarding part,” he said. “We don’t need the recognition or the praise for doing a good job, it’s in the eyes, smiles and faces of people when you do what you are trained to do and the outcome is a positive one. That is satisfaction enough for me.”

Ellwood City’s Fire Chief has been fighting fires for 30 years now—21 of those in Ellwood City. Although he grew up in Evans City and went to High School at Seneca Valley, he now calls Ellwood City home. He lives in Wayne Township with his wife, Shannon, and daughter, Madison.

And as far as accolades go, Myers has the experience and training to be an important leader in the community.

He recently completed the Professional EMA Certification, which is the highest for a Local EMA Coordinator. The levels include basic, advanced, and professional. It took 5 years of training for Myers to earn the professional level. And according to the County EMA Department, he is the first to receive this certification in Lawrence County.

Local EMA Coordinators are appointed by the Governor at the recommendation of every municipality or township in the county. Each one is required to have an Emergency Management Coordinator. They go LOCAL, COUNTY and STATE (PEMA) in terms of levels.

“Having this certification opens doors for things in the event of a major disaster or in today’s language a pandemic and includes hazard mitigation, disaster planning, and Emergency Operation fundamentals,” Myers said. “It is basically the fundamentals to get your community prepared for an ‘EVENT’ (natural or manmade) and also have the tools to recover afterwards.”

According to Myers, he writes emergency action plans (EAP) for special events such as Fall Fest, Light up Night, and the Arts and Crafts Festival. These plans could include emergencies such as tornadoes, flashfloods, terrorist attacks, cars into crowds, and others.

In addition to this certification, Myers has other certifications in both fire and EMS including rescue such as ropes, water, vehicle, special vehicles (trucks, busses, farm equipment).

“I was a Respiratory Therapist prior to becoming the full-time Fire Chief,” he said. “That degree helps every day on the EMS side of this job.”

And although he has become a full-time Fire Chief, that wasn’t always the plan that he had growing up. Initially the draw for him was simply riding on the trucks.

“I grew up about a block from the station so every time the siren would go off, we would run to the corner and watch the trucks leave,” Myers said. “As I got older and realized what all the job entailed, that’s when it hit me that firefighters were there to help people and do good for the community.”

Now he can’t imagine doing anything else.

Despite all the lives he has saved and his extensive training and experience, his most proud moment involves family. The modest Myers will never forget working side by side in a burning building with his wife. Shannon is the daughter of Paul Frederick, who perished in the Elton Hotel fire on December 4, 1989. She joined the department in 2000—the same year as Rick—and stayed active in the department until they decided to start a family.

“To be able to watch her grow in the fire service and follow in her father’s footsteps and know that I helped do that, makes me proud and makes me proud of her,” he said. “She never hesitated, crawling through a smoke-filled house and watching her put out fire … yeah, that was something I will never forget.”

He said there are two things he would like the public to know about firefighters:

• Anyone can be a firefighter; from 15 years old to 70 years old, there is a job for everyone.
• Firefighters are normal, everyday people.

“We are your neighbors, friends, and classmates,” he said. “We feel the same thing you feel, just have a different way of expressing it. We cry after calls, and we have days that we just want to be left alone because of something we had to do or couldn’t do. When you see fireman at an emergency scene and you think they are not being serious enough, remember that humor is a coping mechanism. I am not saying that it is always warranted but think about what they just had to see or what they had to do. Think about being the person who just had to tell a loved one that we did everything we could but it wasn’t enough. It takes a special someone to hold it together and comfort you after they give you that horrible news.”

Myers said he welcomes young firefighters to join the ranks.

“The door is always open,” he said. “You will learn dedication, manners, and comradery. There is nothing bad about joining a fire department. Have dedication and join your local department, you will not regret it”