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BY ASHLEY SZATALA
Bruce Newell, ILLINOIS 1966, has spent 46 years as a volunteer firefighter and more than 30 assessing the safety of compromised buildings for rescuers to enter
Bruce Newell, ILLINOIS 1966, and his family moved in 1977 to Modjeska Canyon, a small community of just over 600 people on the western slope of the Santa Ana Mountains and bordered by the Cleveland National Forest in eastern Orange County, California. As an architect, he was working with an area development company before starting his own business two years later. The relatively remote canyon is protected by a volunteer fire company, and news of Modjeska’s newest residents traveled fast in the tiny town.
“When I moved in, they said, ‘If you're reasonably fit, we kind of expect you to join the fire department,’” Newell recalls. “I had never considered such a thing.”
Within a year he had joined the volunteer fire department, which is part of the Orange County Fire Authority; out of the 78 departments within the OFCA, only three are fully volunteer. The following year he was named captain. Forty-six years later Newell is still actively involved with the department and known as “chief,” despite undergoing other official title changes and now being a senior reserve officer with the department. In addition to his volunteer firefighting, Newell also has been a certified structures specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force since 1993 and has served in several local community organizations for decades.
For his longstanding volunteer commitment to public safety and emergency response, Newell has been named this quarter’s Mark V. Anderson Character-in-Action Leadership AwardTM recipient.
ASSISTING CANYON RESIDENTS AT STATION 16
The Modjeska Fire Station, locally known as Station 16, has about 20 volunteers who are the first responders for area fires, medical aids and remote rescue work.
“Because we're next to the Cleveland Forest, we have a lot of open space around us and a lot of vegetation fires, which is probably half our work,” Newell says. “We're out a couple hundred times a year, and that's manageable with having a job and life.”
Other common emergency responses? The canyon road emerges on a busy highway and the department responds to road accidents with injuries. Injured hikers in the mountains of the National Forest above the canyon are regularly rescued by Station 16 volunteers, administered emergency care, and either carried out or prepared for air lift. The dry fire season is followed by a rainy period, leading to floods and mud slides. Station 16 is a major factor in response and rescues during this period.
In his role as a volunteer emergency responder, Newell plans and coordinates the ongoing training required for team readiness, the care of equipment, fundraising activities and most importantly participates in response to all types of emergencies. In his nearly half a century of volunteerism, the department has estimated Newell has responded to about 4,000 emergency calls and attended 2,000 training sessions in his time with the volunteer department.
One such notable emergency response was the 2007 Santiago Fire, which was intentially set by an arsonist on Oct. 20 and ended Nov. 9, 2007, after spreading through seven California counties. More than 517,000 acres were burned with over 2,000 homes and buildings destroyed and 10 lives lost, according to an after action report by the OCFA. Modjeska Canyon was evacuated, and the volunteer firefighters worked for two weeks to defend properties and contain the blaze. In the aftermath, the community erected a plaque to honor the Station 16 volunteers. Newell’s name is the first one on the plaque, along with the names of his three sons and one daughter-in law in the list of 19 volunteers.
“As I tell the people I'm trying to recruit, it's a very unique opportunity that most people don't get to actually help other people in a very hands-on way. It's never boring, and there's never two calls that are the same,” Newell says. “There are a lot of interesting skills that you need and are trained on and maintain, and you get to deal with a lot of wonderful people who are doing the same thing. It's very rewarding work.”
LOOKING AFTER THE SAFETY OF COMMUNITY AND RESCUERS
Since 1993 Newell, based on his background as an architect and firefighter, also has been a FEMA certified structures specialist working with his area’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. In that volunteer role, he assesses damaged buildings and identifies what areas of the building are safe for rescuers to enter. In compromised buildings, he works with crews to provide shoring, stabilization and oversees the breaching, drilling and removal of debris, among other responsibilities He’s the lead for his section and trains other structures specialists in the Urban Search and Rescue role.
“My job there is to look after the safety of the rescuers as they work on structures that are compromised in some way to try to find the safest way to do whatever it is they're trying to accomplish,” Newell explains. “So that's been an interesting but infrequent call up.”
Bob Scheibel, a fellow Modjeska Canyon resident, volunteer firefighter and structure specialist with the Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, has known Newell for 35 years.
“He's a very selfless person and always willing to support the community and help others. It’s laudable the countless hours of time he’s given to these volunteer organizations,” Scheibel says of Newell. “It’s a very rewarding and positive thing for anybody to come forth in the community and give their time and effort on a volunteer basis, and it’s a testament to Bruce’s character that he’s been doing it for as long as he has.”
A person with good character shows trustworthiness, respect and fairness to others, as well as responsibility and citizenship. Those members who go out of their way to help others and those who overcome obstacles and lead with integrity are good candidates for the Mark V. Anderson Character-in-ActionTM Leadership Award.
Sigma Chi introduced the award to recognize the selfless acts of brothers. A formal recognition by the Fraternity allows non-members to appreciate the scope of the organization. For information about the award, see sigmachi.org/character.
