Profile: George Burgess, forever saving fires

He dreams about his old job every night.

Recently, when a fire truck passed by him, he had to resist the urge to follow it. After the storm Nemo, he rode around town to check the schools and to check the town hydrants with his dog.

George Burgess was forced to retire from the position of Norton Fire Chief on August 31, 2004 when he turned 65, the mandatory retirement age. He began his career as the Fire Chief in 1970. Prior to that, he was a call firefighter, then full time firefighter, and then lieutenant Fire Chief. While he no longer works at the station, he will be remembered in Norton for years to come.

“You couldn’t ask for a more dedicated town servant that Chief Burgess,” said Paul Schleicher, the current Norton Fire Chief. “He lived and died the fire service. They don’t make them like that anymore.”

One of the happiest days of Burgess’s life occurred when he was thirteen and the Fire Chief asked Burgess’s father to bring him to the station. Despite his young age, Burgess signed up to be a call firefighter, a firefighter only called in to supplement other firefighters during emergencies.

While Burgess succeeded at firefighting, he did not do well in school. The principle of his high school once called him down and gave him three choices: work at the mill, work at the bleachery, or better his marks in school so he continue his work as a call firefighter. He took the third option and improved his marks.

“I had dreams. I read every book on fires,” said Burgess.

After high school, Burgess contemplated starting a landscaping business, but then the Norton Fire Chief retired and he took the civil service exam to become a professional firefighter. One year later, he was promoted to Fire Chief.

He came close to receiving a college degree, getting 55 of the 62 total credits needed. However, his job as Fire Chief was demanding. While Chief, Burgess had a red phone in his house and every time it rang, he had to leave to go help out with fires.

His son, Ed Burgess, who is currently a firefighter in Norton, recalls the hardships of that time. Overall, Ed felt lucky to grow up with the senior Burgess as his father. Burgess would often take Ed and his two brothers to fire calls beginning when they were teenagers. These trips inspired Ed and his two brothers to become firefighters.

However, Burgess missed many birthdays and long periods of time, such as the blizzard of ’78. Also, he once received third degree burns. The worst part for Ed growing up was the controversy that often surrounded his father.

“Having to listen to [my father] getting bashed around a little bit by guys he worked with and stuff, that was one of the toughest parts. Growing up, you don’t understand it,” said Ed Burgess.

As Fire Chief, Burgess faced much resistance in establishing Norton’s modern Emergency Medical Service (EMS) program. Prior to the inception of the modern EMS, the motto for ambulance workers was “you call, we haul, that’s all.” Then, all EMS personal had to know was how to ease fears.

“You know the trouble with you? You watch [the television show] Emergency 51 too much. You shouldn’t spend your time watching T.V.,” Burgess said the older Fire Chiefs told him.

Burgess admitted he was inspired by the ambulance service depicted in the fictional television series Emergency! known as Station 51 in Los Angeles County. Burgess even attended a seminar in New Orleans featuring James Owen “Jim” Page who is known as “the father of modern EMS” and was a consultant and writer for Emergency!

Burgess’s competitive nature also inspired him to improve Norton’s EMS. “I always wanted to outdo the other departments,” said Burgess.

The older Fire Chiefs and members of the board of fire engineers were not focused on the future or even outdoing other departments, but rather improving the fire service. Ironically, it was an uncle of Michael Wilson, the current director of Norton’s EMS program, who was one of the more outspoken critics of Burgess’s EMS dreams. Wilson’s uncle was on the board of fire engineers that oversaw Burgess and other Fire Chiefs back then. 

Burgess met with frequent challenges about what equipment was needed from the board of fire engineers. “I got reprimanded because I bought stethoscopes… five stethoscopes. I was told ‘mind your own business, your job is fire, not ambulance,’” said Burgess.

Burgess was also challenged by Sturdy Memorial Hospital. While Sturdy Memorial Hospital embraces the EMS program now, originally it was Morton Hospital and Medical Center that was receptive to Norton EMS. However, when it came to the first rounds of training, Burgess had to send firefighters to a clinic on Cape Cod, since no local hospital wanted to train them.

While Norton was not the first in the state to heavily invest in its ambulance program, it was among the first in the area. In 1973, Burgess began training firefighters for the ambulance service. Burgess started out with four men in the EMS program.

“They embraced the whole program. All I had to do was buy them the tools,” said Burgess on the first paramedics in Norton.

Burgess even had to advocate on the state level for Norton EMS. In 1974, Burgess bought the first box ambulance for the community. While it passed
the federal laws, it did not pass Massachusetts laws, as Massachusetts fought
against paramedics at the time. It did not pass the test because the ambulance
did not have the right type of gauze or a twelve inch screw driver.

Burgess ended up going to Boston to talk to his Senate Representative in search of who held the purse strings for EMS care. His Senate Representative sent him to the OEMS (Office of Emergency Medical Services) under the Department of Public Health. As Burgess recalls, he went in to see his state representative on a Wednesday morning and on that same Wednesday night the box ambulance was up and running. After that experience, Burgess frequently went to advocate on the state level for Norton’s EMS service.

Despite his outspokenness, Burgess is well known for his humbleness. “He may down play it a little bit saying it was the guys and stuff like that and it was dedicated guys, but the problem is they wouldn’t have been able to do it if he hadn’t been on the management side fighting for them to do it,” said Wilson. The most disappointing part of Burgess’s career was when he had to lay off firefighters. He had tears in his eyes the night he had to do it.

To this day, Burgess fights back tears every time he hears Amazing Grace because it has been sung at so many funerals he has attended.  Like smoking in the 1960s, the psychological toll that firefighting has on people was not taken into account during the beginning of Burgess’s career. “Every single day, they see the worst of the worse,” said Burgess of firefighters.

Burgess was a pioneer in helping his men in this aspect, too. He took into account the important of the firefighters psychological well-being long before other fire departments did. He started the practice of deploying critical incident team to talk to firefighters after difficult situations.

After such tragic situations, Burgess also was always there to talk. “You talk about it with the guys and you kind of ease your fears but does it ever go away? Nah,” said Burgess. 

Burgess does not need to fear the future of Norton’s EMS program.

Dr. Brian Kelly is the medical director at Sturdy Memorial Hospital for eight communities. For the past 16 year, he has been in charge of the local EMS programs.

“Norton’s has been probably one of the top communities in the area that’s been huge in EMS,” said Kelly.

Norton’s EMS program has been lauded even outside of the state. Dr. Ken Williams, the Physician Medical Consultant to the RI Department of Health EMS Division, established the quarterly EMS Pride award in recognition of the memory of CJ Shanaberger, a vigorous proponent of quality and ethics in EMS care.

About two years ago, MA EMS agencies started transporting serious trauma patients to the closest trauma center, even if it was out of state. Since that change, RIH has seen few seriously injured MA patients a week. Norton received the first award given to an EMS service from outside RI after providing care for a seriously injured motorcycle rider.

“They were recognized by the resident (who was an EMT before medical school) as having performed an excellent job - recognition and treatment of injuries, concise reporting, and professional behavior,” wrote Williams in an email. Along with Norton, 15 EMS providers and other first responders received awards this past winter.

As Fire Chief, Burgess truly created an EMS department whose excellence continues today. “It was an uphill struggle, but you know something? It was well worth it,” said Burgess.