BizLex Q&A: Chief Jason Wells

In early January, Mayor Linda Gorton officially appointed Jason Wells as Lexington’s new fire chief, taking over for Chief Kristin Chilton following her retirement. Wells has been with the department for 25 years, most recently as assistant chief of administration. Appropriately, his father, Jim Wells, himself a veteran firefighter, pinned the new badge on his son as he became the 19th chief in the Lexington Fire Department’s 150-year history.

Wells grew up in Winchester and lives in Lexington with his wife and 8-year-old daughter. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Northern Kentucky University in organizational leadership and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of the Cumberlands, and he is a graduate of the Fire Service Executive Development Institute.

We spoke with Wells about his new role.

How large is the Lexington Fire Department?

The department has 597 sworn members and about an additional 28 civilian staff. Of course, Fayette County is a rather large county, and geographically we cover 280 some-odd square miles. We have 24 different fire stations [the most recent opened in the Masterson Station neighborhood in 2019], and we currently have 23 engines, seven ladder companies and 12 front-line ambulances. We respond to over 10,000 fire calls per year, and about an additional 50,000 medical calls.

Can you tell us about the Community Paramedicine program that was instituted in 2017?

We have currently two paramedics who are teamed up with a social worker, as well as a Lexington police officer. We’ve also established a partnership with the University of Kentucky where graduate students are part of the program, and the big three local hospitals have come together to financially support the program.

All of these folks have multiple tasks. One is to make contact with individuals who have experienced a non-fatal overdose to try to see what kind of services they can provide them. Also, when you have somebody who calls 911 numerous times a year, it’s not necessarily because they have an acute issue. More frequently it’s because they have nowhere else to turn and the system is failing them somehow. So, that team is able to conduct a focused assessment on the individual and help meet their needs.

EMS runs have typically gone up about 8 percent per year over the past decade, largely due to population growth, but since we instituted our paramedicine program, we’ve seen a decline for the first time to the tune of about 2 or 3 percent.

“Since we instituted our paramedicine program, we’ve seen a decline [of EMS runs] for the first time to the tune of about 2 or 3 percent.”

It sounds like the role of a firefighter has expanded, as well?

Twenty-five years ago, when I walked through the academy doors, the expectations of a firefighter were that you can follow orders, carry heavy things and put water on fire. I’m oversimplifying it, but so much of what we do has a very technical aspect. We ask a tremendous amount of our members and we need to make sure that we’re looking out for them.

What are your goals as chief?

This is something that I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about, and ultimately I’ve established three priorities. The first, in no particular order, is service delivery. That includes not only are we as efficient and effective and well trained in making emergency responses as we can be but also initiatives like our Community Paramedicine program, our smoke alarm installation program and our car seat installation program. These are all places where we’re going out and meeting citizens where they are.

Another priority for me is diversity and inclusion, which was a priority of Chief Chilton’s, as well. As a department, we are much more diverse than we were even five years ago, but we still have a long way to go. I want to make sure that we are leveraging community partnerships and ensuring that everyone within the city understands that the fire service is an option for them. The other side of that is inclusion. Dr. Roger Cleveland [a professor and equity advisor] put it to me like this: Diversity is being invited to the dance and inclusion is like being invited to dance. It’s not enough to just recruit a diverse workforce, people have to know that their opinions are valued and that they are valued. Chief Chilton oversaw a committee and a division training called Culture of Courage that was largely focused on inclusion, and I want to parlay it into a standing human relations committee so we can ensure that everyone’s voice is being heard as we go forward.

And then the third priority is overall firefighter wellness. Chief Chilton had made one of her priorities to ensure that we were looking after the mental well-being of our members, and we are still learning. There’s so much new information about mental and behavioral health, and I’m excited to see how we can best serve our members to make sure that they are in the best possible position to serve the community.

What are some qualities of an effective leader?

One of the things that I think we’ve learned, and have seen very vividly during the COVID crisis, is that we must be effective communicators. Our membership needs to hear from us and they need to hear from us early, even if the response is ‘I don’t have all the answers right now.’ For example, we were way ahead of COVID reaching the state as far as communicating with the members about safety precautions and what to look out for, and that information continues to be pushed out, but early on we heard from some members that they didn’t feel like we were communicating effectively. My first reaction was, ‘are you kidding me? We’ve sent dozens and dozens of emails.’ but looking into it a bit more deeply, we realized that not everyone receives their information in the same way. It’s not just the fact that we’re communicating that matters, but also how we’re communicating.

So, Chief Chilton started something called a team chat, which is a video that we post on our intranet. We also provide a daily briefing that gets pushed out Monday through Friday to our membership, plus emails and information communicated through the chain of command to make sure that we’re reaching everybody.

Also, as the chief of this organization, I have to be able to speak the language of all of the stakeholders. It’s not just about the membership, it’s also about the government and citizens. Everyone has a perspective, and no one person’s perspective is any more important or any less important. Ultimately, we have to take them all into consideration and figure out how to best serve the community.

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