For a little more than four years, Trinity Lutheran Pastor Sam Powell has served as chaplain for the Jefferson City Fire Department.
"When I'm asked what do I do as a chaplain, I say my job is to care," Powell said. "When I respond to a fire, I visit with families that have been displaced, and I can be a go-between so there's a line of communication between the incident commander and the family. The commander can focus on taking care of the house, and I can try and answer the family's questions."
Back in 2014, one the major initiatives of JCFD was to find a better way to support those who serve in the department as well as those they interact with while on duty. At that time, Mark Towns from Memorial Baptist Church became the first JCFD chaplain.
"It was very informal, and whenever he would have time, he would stop by stations to get to know folks and occasionally respond to a call," JCFD Chief Matt Schofield said. "However, we started to realize that there was a lot more work that could be done by a chaplaincy program."
Towns then took a position in Texas, and Powell eventually took over.
"An ideal situation would be to have another person available for those times when the chaplain takes vacations or is unavailable to get to calls for various reasons," Schofield said. "It has to be the right person, and both Mark and Sam have been great."
He said Powell has taken the position to the next level as he has done a great deal of training. Powell is associated with the Missouri Fire Chaplain Corps and helps coordinate training for that statewide group.
"Several members of my church also serve on JCFD, and they had mentioned the position," Powell said. "I also knew Chief Schofield from my time on the Red Cross board of directors."
Powell said he grew up in a family that believed first responders were important and should be taken care of.
"I've had times when a family member said, 'There's something that means a lot to me, and it's right inside that door,'" he added. "I can go to one of the firefighters and tell them about this. It's been a jacket that meant a lot to somebody, it's been a loved one's ashes and it's been pictures. Firefighters care about those things."
There is also followup work for the chaplain to do, and Powell said 99 percent of the time it's with the firefighters.
"Victims can get connected with needed resources thanks to organizations like the Red Cross and Salvation Army," Powell said. "We've had incidents where there's a fatality or children involved in fire. Those are times when I'll try to stop by the stations that had to handle those situations."
His first stop at a fire station was after they had made a call dealing with small children.
"I was a really new chaplain, and they looked at me like, 'Who are you?'" Powell said. "Six months later, I ran into one of the crews, and they ended up talking with me more about it.
"There's a lot of good men and women who know in the call notes it may not have looked too bad, but it ended up being worse than it was," he continued. "I've had members call me to ask that I visit stations where someone has lost a loved one. A lot of them now have my cellphone number and ask if they can visit with me."
As a pastor, Powell has to deal with the tough times members of his congregation may be going through. He doesn't see his work as fire chaplain as an additional burden but another way to give back to the community.
"I have members that feel strongly and appreciate that I'm serving as fire chaplain," Powell said.
"There are so many interconnections in this community, and we are very appreciative that Trinity shares him with us, along with his family," Schofield said. "Sam helps to coordinate the immediate needs of people after a fire, and the first words in the JCFD motto is 'serve people.' What he does is a crucial element to what we do."
Jason Turner, JCFD public information officer, said he was asked during a recent meeting what it took to make a chaplain program succeed.
"I said the first thing is to convince those within the organization that it is something good," Turner said. "You look back in the old days, and I include myself in that. If you had problems, you sucked it up and went back to work. That's not today's world. You have to reach out and make sure your people are healthy."
Powell said he's gotten better about judging whether he needs to go to a fire scene or not. But when he does go, he knows he can be asked to do a number of things.
"There was a fire where I stayed at the scene for about four to five hours, and I ended up helping them put away fire hose at 1 a.m.," he said. "Just being there helped my relationship, and I got to know several of the firefighters better after that incident.
"Sometimes my job is just standing around. And that's OK because being there for them and that I'm willing to give my time makes it much more likely they'll give me a phone call if something else is going on in their life," Powell said. "I've benefited and so has my family. I'll admit, my kids think it's pretty cool that I get to do this.
"As a fire service, we know emotional health is a big deal. We're a tight, close knit family of 75 personnel. Having a chaplain is a key piece to making sure people are supported. We would like to grow this program because there's a lot of work to be done," he said.