New Searcy Fire Chief Andy Woody’s career decision was no decision.
“Nothing else ever crossed my mind,” he said.
His father, Robert Woody, was a fire chief at a small volunteer fire department in Richland, Missouri, and a career fire chief for the civil-service fire department at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, a U.S. Army installation.
Andy Woody, 40, replaces Bill Baldridge, who retired in September after 22 years at the Searcy Fire Department.
Woody, who was promoted in May to assistant fire chief, said it’s been his lifelong goal to be a chief.
“I remember being at fires and traffic accidents since I was 10 years old,” he said. When it came time for a Halloween costume, there was no question that Woody would be dressing as a firefighter every year.
“Even the little volunteer department at home, I was there all the time, from the time I was even able to drive, making calls and helping anyway I could.”
He spent the night at the fire station and even endured the wrath of some relatives when he chose to spend Thanksgiving at the fire station with his dad.
Woody started to college after high school graduation, but he was hired during spring break at the Springfield (Missouri) Fire Department. He was 19.
“I knew I wanted to finish my degree, and ultimately, I did, but Springfield was the big city from when I grew up. Going to Springfield was an event for my family. I wanted to be a fire chief in Springfield — that was my career goal.”
Woody’s father still lives in Missouri, as does Woody’s mother, Linda.
Searcy is his wife, Danna’s, hometown.
“She has family here; a sister and nieces. We were here to visit a lot, and Searcy is a much different city than Springfield — a lot smaller. It’s slower, and — not to say this isn’t Springfield, too — people are friendly and welcoming. It seemed like a wonderful place to be,” he said. “We had hoped at one time we would have the opportunity to live there.”
Once when they were in Searcy visiting his wife’s family, Woody stopped by the fire station to talk to Baldridge. Woody was training chief at the Springfield Fire Department at the time.
“He called me out of the blue a year after I talked to him,” Woody said. “His training chief retired from here. He asked me to come teach a class and see how I was received.”
Woody, who had become an assistant fire chief, said he clicked with the Searcy department immediately.
“I met people and basically, I just fell in love with the place,” he said.
Woody started in December 2015 as a training officer for the Searcy Fire Department. His rise to fire chief was not by accident. Woody said he made decisions along the way to put himself in position to be the chief.
“I studied job descriptions and really tailored my own job development around that. I’m well-qualified,” he said matter-of-factly, without a hint of ego.
Here are his resume highlights: Woody earned an associate degree in fire science, a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in administration. He is credentialed through the Center for Public Safety Excellence as a chief fire officer and a chief training officer and has completed the executive fire officer program through the National Fire Academy.
He’s also a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and serves as a regional director of the Arkansas State Association of Fire Chiefs and as a peer reviewer for the Center for Public Safety Excellence.
Baldridge made a positive impact on the department, Woody said.
“He really set this department up for success in the future; those are really some big shoes to fill. The way he led people and mentored people, there were several people who could have stepped into this role,” Woody said.
A nationwide search for the chief’s position yielded seven qualified candidates, including two from out of state, Searcy Mayor David Morris said, but Woody rose to the top.
“He was hired here as our training officer and did an excellent, excellent job,” Morris said. “I sat in on some of his training and saw how professional he was and how detail-oriented he was.”
Morris said Woody had “great references” from the Springfield Fire Department and a good track record at the Searcy Fire Department.
“Chief Woody stood out; he brings a whole lot of expertise, knowledge, training and professionalism,” Morris said.
Woody said one of the qualities a fire chief needs to have, that he possesses, is to be people-oriented.
“My goal when I come here is to make sure things are good for the firefighters; they’re the ones in contact with our customers, quote, unquote,” Woody said. “My job here is to make their job easy.”
Woody said it’s important for a fire chief to have a servant’s heart, too.
“We’re in a servant business anyway. My job now, while it is to serve the community — the focus of my job has to be serving the department.”
He oversees 56 male and female firefighters and three fire stations. The department has a national Insurance Services Office rating of 1, which Morris said few cities of 23,000 achieve.
He said he wants to make sure the department has an accurate list of equipment and an accountability of needs, documenting when equipment is tested and when it needs to be replaced.
Firefighting has changed significantly since his dad started in the profession. Firefighters used to pride themselves in their toughness and didn’t wear protection, he said.
“You see pictures of old firefighters with big old bushy mustaches — they breathed through those; that’s what they were for,” he said.
Woody said today the emphasis is on safety, and it will be a priority of his, too.
He said firefighters are four times as likely as other people to develop cancer.
“There are recommendations on dealing with cancer; we’re adopting those. Our budget priorities, some of the big expenses, are going to revolve around firefighter safety. We are getting new turnout gear and backup turnout gear, new protective gear, based on those recommendations.”
Even though Searcy is a smaller city, it’s not immune to accidents or tragedies.
“We’ve had significant incidents here in Searcy. We had a big hotel fire. We had a fairly dramatic rescue of a child who had fallen out of a boat, where our rescuer essentially protected a young man when they went over a low-water dam. The incidents happen here in the city of Searcy like they happen anywhere,” he said.
As Woody conducted the interview, he said firefighters were out on a call that involved a three-car accident, including a rollover.
Woody said he misses hopping into the firetruck and going on calls.
“I don’t think anyone in an administrative role would admit he doesn’t miss being in a firetruck; that’s what drew us to it as kids,” he said. “You can make a bigger impact, but we miss being on that firetruck.”
He and his wife have two daughters, Leah, 7, and Lily, 5, who attend Westside Elementary School in Searcy.
So far, he said, neither of their children seems interested in firefighting.
“My young one still wants to be a mermaid; the older one wants to be a teacher and a farmer,” he said.
Woody said he and his wife were surprised to learn about Leah’s farming aspirations at a school program last month, when she held up a written sign declaring it.
“We don’t know where that came from,” he said, laughing. “She never mentioned it at home.”
But he wants his girls to follow their dreams, just like he did.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.