‘A Stabilizing Influence’ : Chaplains in a Fire Authority Program Help Emergency Workers Cope With Danger, Tragedy

ORANGE — It was after midnight, and Scott Brown lay in a hospital bed, bruised and battered after his ambulance collided with a car while on an emergency call.

A parade of visitors had come by the hospital room--first, blood relatives, followed by his adopted family from the fire station.

Filled with painkillers and worried about his injuries, Brown asked for one more member of his extended family to stop by.

Shortly after 2 a.m., a quiet, elderly man walked into the room. Monsignor John Sammon sat down and stayed for a while, making small jokes and calming Brown’s fears.

“I remember vividly having the need to talk and have his support,” said Brown, now a captain with the Orange County Fire Authority. “He . . . was able to put everything in perspective for me.”

For more than 20 years, Sammon has been the sole spiritual father of the Fire Authority. But recently, four more have been added to the program to--among other things--help counsel the agency’s 1,394 firefighters.

Like a firefighter, a chaplain’s job is to be there whenever needed.

While firefighters are putting out a blaze, a chaplain stands off to one side, soothing and comforting a distraught family. If a major disaster strikes, a chaplain is around to lend moral support.

Despite the grim reality of death that can harden a firefighter, many reach out to the chaplain, particularly after a child is killed.

“Firefighting is a very demanding physical job, but there’s also a lot of emotional turmoil at times,” Brown said. “The chaplain’s mere presence adds a stabilizing influence.”

Beside covering a greater area, the new chaplains, who started in May, bring new talents and abilities to the program.

Steve Willis, a retired nondenominational pastor who covers Tustin and Irvine, lost his wife several years ago.

Firefighters who have suffered similar losses seek him out for counseling.

“These guys are very macho on the outside, but inside they are very compassionate,” said Willis, who has been assigned 16 fire stations. “People who see as much trauma as they do can grow a shell. They do their job with professionalism and detachment and protect themselves that way.

“But one on one, they become very tenderhearted,” Willis said.

Since the program was expanded, Willis and the other chaplains have been touring the stations to get to know the firefighters.

“We get them into the basics, understanding what a fire engine is, and its purpose,” said Warren Johnson, who coordinates the chaplain program. “The more we understand what firefighters do, the more we understand them.”

Willis often rides with paramedics on emergency calls, and was recently called to his first house fire.

Assisting disaster victims requires crisis intervention skills as well as spiritual guidance, he said. “These people are going through a traumatic experience,” Willis said, “and post-traumatic syndrome can be a real problem.”

With the recent fire victim, whose Irvine home was damaged, Willis said that he “recognized that he was in severe shock. I answered his questions and accepted his feelings as valid and didn’t try to change them.”

But few chaplains have as much experience with trauma as Sammon, who has been a police and fire chaplain in Orange County since 1942.

“He is the patriarch of the department,” said Capt. Rick Robinson, who helped expand the chaplain program. “We do have an emotional attachment to Monsignor Sammon.”

One of the first things Robinson did after unveiling the program was to make it clear to firefighters that Sammon, 81, was not being replaced.

“Once everyone knew that his role was unchanged, they approved [the expanded chaplain program],” he said. “We took away that fear that we were moving away from an old friend.”

Generations of firefighters have grown used to the sight of Sammon at a fire.

“When it’s 2 a.m. and you’re beat, there’s just something stabilizing about having Monsignor Sammon show up on the scene,” Brown said. “He’s sharing a cup of coffee with you and creating a sense that everything is going to be OK.”

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Sammon said that one of his challenges is explaining that God is real to firefighters who have seen much pain and death.

“One of the two things you don’t talk about in a fire station is politics and religion,” said Sammon, who works for the Catholic diocese in Orange. “It’s not that they aren’t religious, they just keep it to themselves.

“I let them know that God is here, but people are here too, and that’s when things happen. God can’t be blamed for everything.”

The call for Sammon is strongest when a firefighter has died in the line of duty.

“These are people who eat together, live together. It ties them together as a family,” Sammon said. “Each death of one of their own is devastating.”

Sammon said he has grown attached to working with firefighters all these years because “it’s my way of showing an interest and concern for those whose work is very dangerous.

“They are always reaching out to help someone. Somebody has to be there to encourage and thank them.”