ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 5, 1996 TAG: 9607050105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Strip
AT 20, DALLAS LEAMON may be the youngest rescue chief in the state. He takes some kidding about his age, but colleagues say he's a natural-born leader.
Even though Dallas Leamon isn't old enough to drive the ambulance, he still gets plenty of respect at the Catawba-Masons Cove Volunteer Rescue Squad.
After all, he's the chief.
A wiry 20-year-old with a crew cut and a pager clipped to the belt on his denim shorts, Leamon can't operate an emergency vehicle for another year. He's already taken the required driving test. The instructor insisted on calling him "chiefie" but still gave him a perfect score.
"He was working on a set of training wheels to put on the ambulance for me," Leamon joked.
It's not uncommon for a volunteer recruit who has time and enthusiasm to swiftly reach a position of authority, but local crew members believe Leamon may be the youngest rescue chief in the state. Neither the State Association of Virginia Volunteer Rescue Squads nor the Office of Emergency Medical Services keeps records on the ages of state officers.
Unlike many of the men and women who volunteer their time to pull people from crumpled automobiles and burning buildings, Leamon did not grow up in a family of emergency workers.
"Most of my people run from blood and guts and gore," he said.
But Leamon had friends who were involved, and he would hang out with them at the Hollins station. Before long, he signed up to join his own local crew.
It was March 1994, and Leamon was 17. Although he hadn't completed training to become an emergency medical technician, he was at the station nearly every time a call came in. Katie Yates, secretary for the crew, was impressed. She paid close attention when Leamon answered his first serious emergency.
It was a car wreck in Catawba. Two of the three victims were seriously injured and losing a lot of blood. Leamon and a friend were the first to arrive.
"That was the time I was making myself see all that stuff, making myself look at it to make sure I could handle all that," he said.
"It shook him up a whole lot," Yates said. "If you don't run from that, it's definitely part of you."
Leamon didn't run. At the end of his one-year probationary period, he not only became a full member, he was elected first lieutenant, making him second in command. Chief Don Jones and his son, Scott, became important mentors.
When Jones retired from the volunteer position in February, the crew's charter called for the first lieutenant to become chief. Leamon was 19. He turned 20 on June 7, three days before the crew unanimously elected him to a two-year term as chief.
"He's a natural-born leader," Yates said. "He goes on these calls and takes control right now."
"It's really worked out well since he's come here," First Lieutenant Henry Rice said. "We've been able to recruit some new members that were old enough to drive. He relates a whole lot better to the children coming in here than those of us getting on in years."
Rice flashed a wicked grin at Leamon out of the crew office.
"He's such a baby," Yates cooed as she sifted through the day's mail.
Leamon takes plenty of ribbing about his age, but he's too laid back to be embarrassed.
"I take it so much, I just don't pay any attention," he said, leaning back in his chair with a good-natured grin.
In the two years Leamon has been with the rescue crew, membership has grown from five to 26. Where they had trouble answering their own calls in the past, now they are able to offer assistance to other crews.
"Most of it is due to this boy right here," Yates said. "He runs calls, and he's talking to people on calls about joining the rescue squad."
Leamon is quick to point out that he's just one member of a recruitment committee on the crew.
"Word of mouth and knowing people is probably the best recruitment tactic," he said. "When we hear of somebody who's interested, we jump right on them and don't let them go till we've got them in here."
The growing enthusiasm is attracting younger volunteers. Leamon had been the youngest member, but the crew recently signed up a 16-year-old and two 18-year-olds. Another teen-ager has applied to join.
Most volunteers are still in the 35 to 45 range, which Leamon said is as it should be. Younger members tend to head off to college or other jobs just as they turn 18 and are old enough to be EMTs.
Still, crew members are finding new benefits to having younger volunteers all the time. On a recent call to a home where an 18-year-old had taken LSD, several rescue workers tried in vain for 20 minutes to coax the young man into the ambulance.
"Us 30-to 40-year-olds were having trouble getting through to him," Yates said.
The young man was still sitting on the couch when Leamon squatted in front of him, nose to nose, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Look here, me and all these other people are with the rescue squad. If you go with us, you're not going to get in trouble."
Without another word, the youth got up, walked outside and crawled into the rescue vehicle. Turning to Leamon, he said, "I'm sorry I have to meet you under these circumstances."
"He was so afraid of getting in trouble with the police," Leamon said.
When Leamon isn't recruiting or on a call, he can usually be found at the rescue squad hall, which is shared with the local fire company. Last August, he moved in with three firefighters who live next door. Living close by allows Leamon more time to get to know other crew members, who include paramedics, a minister, an artist, a mechanic and a state trooper.
"All my members invite me up for supper every night, so I never have to cook," Leamon said.
Leamon is between jobs now and considering a career in law enforcement, but he says he'll always be involved with volunteer emergency work. His term as chief is for two years, and he's got big plans.
"The biggest thing I want to do is bring in a hell of a lot of members and get us another crash truck," he said.
Maybe by the time he gets that new truck, he'll be old enough to drive it.
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PHILIP HOLMAN/Staff. Dallas Leamon, chief of theby CNBCatawba-Masons Cove Volunteer Rescue Squad, checks on a generator on
the crash truck. color.