By Brenna Angel
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wuky/local-wuky-943324.mp3
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The New Year has brought about changes for a central Kentucky man and the Lexington Division of Fire. Lt. Stewart Dawson retired this week after 19 years of service as the department's chaplain. Reporter Brenna Angel has this profile of a man who found his calling in fire and faith.
50-year-old Stewart Dawson is hanging up his hat as a Lexington firefighter and chaplain. While most firefighters respond to building fires, car crashes, and other emergencies, Dawson has spent the past 19 years responding to the department's more than 500members.
"You know those $300,000 fire trucks are no good if the people on them are not healthy. So I'm there for their emotional, spiritual needs, family problems, crisis, those kinds of things. That's the main thing, is to take care of the people. And then also if we have major crisis and tragedy, I'm there for the public."
With the sound of traffic buzzing by on downtown Maxwell Street, Dawson met with many firefighters in his second floor office at Lexington's Fire Station Number 3. It's a place the chaplain didn't imagine he'd spend most of his career. Dawson has worked in the fire service since he was 19 years old, starting out in Danville. It's also as a young man that Dawson developed his Christian faith.
"When I met my wife, she and I--well it was funny-- her parents would let us go to church together, but wouldn't let us do other things together. So we kind of used church, but it took. We really got committed to the Lord at that time."
Dawson went on to graduate from Bible college, and thought he'd go into work as foreign missionary. But Dawson says God began to open doors for him in Lexington.
"I came here as a fireman, but I felt a specific call to minister to the men and women of the fire department here. And then within a year, it happened."
What happened, was that the chief at the time was looking for someone to get more involved with the chaplaincy, and Dawson was a perfect fit. The job quickly evolved into a full time responsibility. He also became pastor of Kirkwood Baptist Church in Mercer County.
The Lexington Division of Fire isn't the only department to employ a chaplain. Police, corrections departments, and the military also use them.
"We're a closed group. You know we won't talk to others usually about what we're thinking, what we're feeling, because in the public's eyes, we are the heroes. We have our capes and our mask, and we don't want to take those off in front of you. But in the fire station, with people that we trust, and that's where the chaplain comes in. You know I'm one of them, we're one of the guys. We ride the trucks, we have the same training, we do the same things, and so it's safer."
But Dawson admits his own experiences as a firefighter have tested his faith.
"Many years ago, I hadn't been on the job long, and there were three children that died in a fire. And you know I began to hear those pat Christian answers. 'Well God had a reason for this.' And that just didn't sit well with me. You know to think, 'If God goes around taking the lives of little babies, I don't know if I want to be his representative or not.' And so I really had to wrestle with my faith and find some perspective and some answers to that."
Over the years Chaplain Dawson has counseled first responders through several tragedies, including the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the crash of Flight 5191. In 2010 he traveled to Haiti three times, and that's where he will now focus much of his attention.
"You know I'm not retiring because I'm tired, or burnout, or mad. I'm retiring because I feel like there's something else I need to do."
Dawson and his wife plan to be U-S based missionaries for Haiti, helping the nation rebuild after its devastating earthquake. So as of January 3, Lt. Stewart Dawson of the Lexington Division of Fire is retired. He also recently delivered his final sermon at Kirkwood Baptist.
A new chaplain for the fire department has not yet been named. To the successor, Dawson has this advice:
"Just love the guys, love the job, and just be there for them."