Greg Stewart’s plan was to become a doctor but when he started volunteering with the fire department to show some service on his application he fell in love with it and changed career paths. Stewart has been named the new South Davis Metro Fire Chief, replacing Dane Stone who retired Sept. 12.

“It’s surreal,” Stewart said. “I signed up to be a firefighter. I never dreamed in a million years that I would become the Chief.”

It all happened by accident, he said. “I was born in California and my dad got a job here. I was going to Utah State and my dad said you need to do some volunteering. It will look better on your application for medical school. I decided to try out for the volunteer fire department.”

Stewart said he got paid $6 a call. “They paid us once a year but the training was free. I got my EMT and fire certification. The more I did it the more I fell in love with it.”

A friend called him one day and asked if he’d help him put up his fence, said Stewart. “His neighbor was Dane Stone. I met him 30 years ago. He said ‘you ought to take a ride along.’ I hadn't thought about doing it full time.”

Stewart was hired on part time at first. “My wife got a job with DCFS. We were living with a friend and fell in love with the area. We bought a house in Bountiful. I was fortunate that in the first year they hired me full time. That was in 2001. I worked my way through the ranks. Chief was not exactly on my radar.”

It’s never been about ego or title, he said. “It’s been about service. I’m a service junkie.”

Part of that service came from working with high school youth in a nine month program teaching them leadership skills. “We taught them how to be good adults,” said Stewart. “We wanted them to learn to give and take care of other people.Then we went to a rural school in India.”

India was stark but beautiful, he said. “But it was impoverished. These kids came from affluent backgrounds. They saw what a third world country looks like. The people are just happy that you’re there. They want to learn English because that is their way out. The kids would work with them.”

That’s what being in the fire department is all about – service, Stewart said. “Every day you can make a difference. When a call comes in you get to go help make a difference in someone’s life. The only reason the fire department exists is to serve the community.”

Stewart said he wants to meet the needs of the community. “We want people to be safe and secure. To trust us that when they have a bad day they can call us and trust us with their family. It’s very humbling when somebody hands you their child and says ‘fix this child.’” 

The Gun Range fire in the hills of Bountiful was the hardest call he’s been on, said Stewart. “I was the incident commander. For 18 hours that was my fire. We had a lot of help. There were 64 units that were not our own on the fire.”

Stewart said the duration and intensity of the fire made it extremely difficult. “We’d never lost homes in a grass fire. It was hard on me. I hadn’t had that happen before. It was really hard because that was my fire.”

Another experience that stands out but has a better conclusion was when a truck crashed into a fence into a backyard. “Nobody got hurt,” he said. “The brakes went out. A woman was gardening and her child was in a basset in the yard. She said that something told her to go take the child in. The truck landed right where the child had been. It was crazy.”

Stewart said they get through tough calls with each other. “We work really hard on mental health on the job. We have trained peer support and mental health providers. We do everything we can to have a resilient, long career.”

Chief Stone leaves big shoes to fill, said Stewart. “I’ve looked up to Dane for 23 years. We’ve worked side by side. He has been an amazing mentor. He’s going to be very missed but he set us up well and put us on the path.”