By Stephen Smoot
“My Dad was the fire chief in Bridgeport in the 70s,” started Donnie Lindsay as he reviewed his career and his family’s commitment to public service. He added also that his grandfather served with the Nutter Fort Fire Department, while his cousins served with Bridgeport and Flemington.
“I grew up around it,” he says, also sharing that “my Dad had given it up by the time I was older.”
That family tradition of commitment and service germinated within Lindsay, leading to him feeling “a vested interest in emergency services, obviously because of family ties.”
That led him to joining the fire service after his senior year in high school. Once he passed training courses, he went first to the Bridgeport Fire Department.
Then, he started school at West Virginia University. There, he was under the tutelage of a rather more well-known “Don,” Don Nehlen. There, he was a reliable long snapper for the Mountaineers.
More importantly, he also spent his college years volunteering with the Star City Fire Department and studying to be an EMT. He stated that “I fell in love with the career and went full time.”
Seemingly always balancing more than one difficult role, he started both a paramedic class and his path toward a masters degree.
Lindsay returned to Bridgeport and served there until 2016 when he accepted a job working with health and safety in the oil and gas industry. His heart always brought him back, however, to fire and emergency services.
He said at the time, he volunteered on and off with Ten House, saying “a lot of my family ran there” and that he stayed in touch. That led to a much more thorough involvement in 2017 when he was selected as fire chief in Shinnston – a job that increasing demands on his time has forced him to relinquish.
Lindsay shared that over three decades, he has held leadership positions, including Fire Captain and Training Officer in Shinnston, as well as firefighter and critical care paramedic for Bridgeport. Alongside his work to react to emergencies via response, his full time jobs involve him preventing such emergencies. He has worked as an environment, health, and safety manager at Mustang Extreme Environmental Services, Director of Health, Safety, and Environmental for Envision Energy Services, adjunct instructor with West Virginia University Extension Services, and process safety manager at CNX.
Additionally, he serves as chapter president of the Appalachian STEPS Network, which binds together “professionals in the oil and gas industry who meet to network and learn” about “health, safety, and environmental improvement in the Appalachian basin.”
Lindsay is leaving his position to further his studies in that field. He currently is working on a masters with the University of Alabama-Birmingham in advanced safety engineering and management with plans to obtain a PhD in the same field.
He explained the intense time commitment required and his worry that he “did not want to shortchange the department or the community.”
“I’ll still run. I’m still in the mix,” Lindsay stated. He will assist in-depth with the transition and still go out on calls.
Lindsay expressed appreciation and respect for the team he led, relating “that team is exceptional. Some of the best guys I’ve been around my entire career.”
All of the time spent with that team provided endless memories of time well spent. Lindsay described “the camaraderie and brotherhood with your guys.” He described them also as “an extended family, especially on the career side where you spend 24 hours every third day.
When it comes to important points in his career running calls, Lindsay said the most important role lies in “being a difference in someone’s life on the worst day of their life.”
Over three decades, while the importance of brotherhood among firefighters and other emergency responders has not changed, much else has done so, and rapidly.
Technology, fire science, and equipment changes have come, as have different protocols over the years. On the other hand, Lindsay says “volunteerism is extremely low. Any help that anyone can give a volunteer fire department is a big help.” That goes well beyond suiting up to respond on calls. Many volunteer to cook meals, wash vehicles, or help with the everyday needs of the organization.
“Come and be a part,” he urges, saying “support the community. Support the department. We need more people to step up and make a difference.”
On a statement that he released on Linked In, Lindsay shared that Matt Bartlett will assume an interim chief role.
Lindsay then said “Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for your friendship, support, and service. The Shinnston Fire Department and this community will forever hold a special place in my heart.”