"We're Standing In The Gap" with Fire Chief Gina Sweat

Driven By with Sam Coates

My guest this week is Memphis Fire, Chief Gina Sweat. Chief Sweat was selected to be the first female director of fire services in Memphis, TN, and there were only a handful of female fire chiefs nationally when she was selected. The world of fire departments is changing. Chief Sweat says in this episode 80% of their calls are medical, so gone are the days when you are only going to fight fires. This is a great episode that covers the following:

• What it's like living with the responsibility of 1600+ firefighters that put themselves in harm's way every day
• Getting scrappy and looking for new ways to tackle old problems and getting creative with funding and grants to get your people what they need
• Remembering the tragedies and those that gave their lives just doing their job
• What the future of fire departments look like and why they must innovate to add value to the communities they are apart of
• Plus a lot more

Please enjoy this week's episode with Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat!

1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-sweat-4625b382/
2. https://archive.commercialappeal.com/news/government/city/strickland-names-gina-sweat-citys-first-female-fire-director-26dfbef7-76dd-280f-e053-0100007f1d74-361905801.html/
3. https://apnews.com/article/15e06ad3778f4ee88b67a1bdbbc97c29
4. https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2022/08/23/funeral-held-memphis-fire-department-driver-killed-crash-david-pleasant/7877457001/