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UPD officers find first-responder experience can save time, lives

Officer Dale Hohl (left) and Lt. Kevin Will at the Getzville Fire Company on Dodge Road in Amherst. Hohl is a volunteer firefighter as well, serving with the Ellicott Creek Volunteer Fire Company. Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki

By MICHAEL ANDREI

“Being a firefighter, and having been in those types of situations, made the emergencies I have responded to as a police officer easier to handle.”

Dale Hohl, officer

University Police

In his 15 years with University Police, Dale Hohl says his years
of firefighting experience are never far away.

Through three decades with Ellicott Creek Volunteer Fire
Company, Hohl developed instincts as an emergency responder that
have changed the ways in which he approaches emergencies as a
University Police officer.

“There was a period of about 10 years where I was serving
as an active firefighter while I was also working as a police
officer,” Hohl says. “Being in the dual roles helped me
specifically because I had all those years as a fireman.

“As police officers, we are responding knowing that things
can go from zero to 60 in an instant. You don’t know what
you’re going in to,” he says.

“Being a firefighter, and having been in those types of
situations, made the emergencies I have responded to as a police
officer easier to handle.”

University Police Lt. Kevin Will, who is also a volunteer
firefighter, says experience as a first responder gives a police
officer arriving at an emergency the ability to quickly assess the
situation.

“Which means as you arrive on location, you are able to
let the fire company know right away what the situation is, what
equipment will be needed and give the fire chiefs a heads-up in how
to plan for that particular incident,” Will says.

“That is what we call ‘scene size-up,’ which
can save time and, more importantly, lives.”

There are also little things you bring from firefighting
experiences to your job as a police officer, Hohl explains.

“Being a firefighter has definitely helped me personally
to stay as calm as I think I need to be to be able to make rational
decisions and make a positive outcome more likely,” he
says.

Lt. Kevin Will (rear), in his role as a volunteer with the Getzville Fire Company, helps with the extrication of a driver involved in a car accident on the North Campus.

“Matter of fact, a few weeks ago we had a bad car accident
on the North Campus at Flint and Audubon. I was one of the first
officers to get there,” Hohl says. “Unfortunately, Lt.
Will was off-duty, but when I turned around and looked, there he
was in the back seat of one of the cars that were involved, in his
firefighter gear.

“We had not had a chance to talk about it right away, but
I saw him right there, holding the driver in traction while they
extricated her from her car.”

It was, Hohl notes, a perfect example of an off-duty University
Police officer responding as a volunteer firefighter.

Will later said he had responded knowing that the accident was
on university property.

Joshua B. Sticht, deputy chief of University Police, says
there’s a high value to the university when officers have
experience as first responders.

“In a situation such as that car accident on the North
Campus, we had a response from University Police officers who
responded both as police officers and, in the case of Lt. Will, as
a firefighter,” Sticht says.

“The additional training you get as a firefighter in first
aid, for example, is also very valuable for you as a police
officer. Because as you are responding to a call, you never know
how that situation may change or what you might be confronted with
once you arrive on scene.

“The experience that you get as a firefighter, as a first
responder, works to your benefit as a police officer by helping to
shape how you are thinking as you respond to emergencies,” he
adds.

Will and Hohl took different paths to their positions with
University Police.

“I always had an interest in both firefighting and police
work, and I had taken the civil service test,” Will says.

“I accepted a job in corrections, where, in addition to my
responsibilities as a corrections officer and sergeant, I also
served as deputy fire chief for my facility. I had been working in
that position for a while when the opportunity with University
Police came up.”

Will notes that since his position as a corrections officer was
with New York state, all of the pay and benefits transferred with
the University Police position.

“So that made a difference,” he says. “I also
had opportunities to go out of town to be a fireman in other
states, but the pay and benefits were not equal to what they are
here in New York state, which factored into my decision as
well.”

Hohl also took the civil service exam for both police and fire.
“I was among many who spent time on the waiting list. But
there were a number of us who took the opportunity to volunteer as
firefighters during that period of time to get the
experience,” he says.

“I continued to take exams, along with the others, so we
could one day get paid as firemen, but I also continued to take the
police exams. I was fortunate enough to get hired as a police
officer here at UB.”

Will says having firefighting experience plays out in other
ways.

“For instance, as a new officer, you are a bit ahead in
having an ability to handle the stress, split-second
decision-making and adrenaline rush that comes along with police
work … any new police officer will confront those
challenges,” he says.

“The heart races and the blood pressure goes up …
for individuals in both jobs,” Hohl says. “That happens
largely because of the situations firefighters and police officers
respond to. You learn to assess these situations where things could
change in an instant. Because they often do.

“The experience that you get from doing both jobs is
invaluable.”

Both Hohl and Will say they’re in a win-win situation.
“We are getting paid to do something that we truly want to
do, but those of us who started and stayed with firefighting are
lucky enough to be able to do the other job as well,” Will
says.

READER COMMENT

Thank you to all the first-responders who help keep UB safe for
its students, faculty and staff: UPD, Getzville FD, Buffalo FD
& Hazmat, Amherst PD, Brighton FD & Hazmat and Buffalo
PD!