A Conversation with retired Laytonville Fire Chief Sue Carberry

Introducing Chief Sue Carberry!

Chief Susan Carberry, or “Sue” as she prefers to be called, is the recently retired Fire Chief of the Laytonville Volunteer Fire Department. Sue joined the department as an EMT, and had been the fire chief for five years before retiring. Fortunately, this freed her up to join the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council’s Board of Directors, and I spoke with her recently about herself and her work. 

We had a great laugh in our conversation as she mentioned that this also freed her up to catch up on decades worth of house chores! Sue talked about how MCFSC’s Executive Director Scott Cratty had been reaching out for her to join the board for a while, and how she just could not put him off any longer following retirement. 

Sue brings to our board her experience in the fire department, the lessons she learned from that, and her first-hand knowledge of the North Coast’s fire challenges. Sue’s favorite parts of the county are its beautiful coastline and being able to be under the redwoods. She is proud and happy to live in Laytonville, which she calls a “crossroads to many good things.”

We moved on to talk about Sue’s time as Fire Chief of the Laytonville Volunteer Fire Department. She mentioned that becoming fire chief was a difficult transition to navigate, as she had taken over for the previous chief, who was there for over 21 years, who had moved out of the area, leaving her with no true mentor. She was also still working as a full-time teacher. 

Once Sue transitioned out of teaching full-time, the chief position became easier. I asked her about the experience of being a female fire chief in a male-dominated role in Mendocino County. She referred back to her time working as an athletic director, and how she was one of the only female ADs at the time. That helped prepare her for being a female fire chief. Not only that, she expressed great gratitude for all the support she received from the community based on her time as a teacher. She never felt attacked or held back for being a woman, and she thanks her community and fellow volunteer firefighters for that.

We moved on to talk about some of the struggles of a volunteer fire department. Sue mentioned that the majority of our county’s fire departments only have a few paid staff, and the rest are volunteers. So they rely on volunteers to respond to calls. With the changing economy and times, it can be a struggle to get enough volunteers to respond to calls, because they are working or otherwise unavailable. It may also be hard for them to respond to calls at night if they know they have to report early to their jobs in the morning. 

Laytonville Fire Department is lucky that some of their staff is 24/7 paramedics, but they still need more volunteers to respond to medical and other calls. I say that if you are thinking about serving your community, consider becoming a volunteer firefighter! 

We went on to talk about Measure P, and how the funding will benefit Mendocino County’s fire departments. Referring to the recent voter approval of a small portion of county sales tax going to help fund fire safety, Sue said, “Measure P will be amazing.” She went on to talk about how departments typically raise their money with bake sales and open houses, and some get some degree of support from  taxes. 

Sue said that taxes such as those provided by Measure P and the campground tax make a huge difference, creating a base of support for volunteer fire departments to continue operating. Providing that same base of support for all fire departments in the county will provide an enormous boost. She said you should be able to travel to all parts of the county and expect the same level of service in Westport as you would in Ukiah. The volunteers will also benefit from this additional funding, as they will be able to afford the equipment they need to keep them safe when they respond to an emergency.

I asked Sue about the state of fire risk in the county. She truly believes that we are taking positive steps towards a more fire-safe Mendocino. She noted that fire calls and acres burned in wildfires was much lower this year, and believes that the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council has done great work in vegetation management and fuels-reduction, and that CAL FIRE has done excellent work in keeping the wildfires that do happen small ones. 

Some challenges that Sue mentioned are the availability of water supplies, and continuing to encourage all residents to protect their own homes through, for instance, home-hardening and defensible-space preparations (see our 6-step preparedness guide at https://firesafemendocino.org/preparing-for-wildfire/). 

Sue mentioned that it is also important to keep doing prescribed burning. She is a fan of prescribed burns, and believes that our county’s fire departments have come around to the idea. She said that not only is prescribed burning a good tool to reduce fuels and therefore fire risk but also that prescribed burns present good training opportunities for firefighters. 

The last thing that Sue wanted to share is that we as a county have to keep up this good work. “If you see it or smell it, report it,” she said. Our fire departments count on us to report our concerns, and even if it ends up being nothing, it is best to report it. We do not want to hesitate when the situation could be a potential emergency. 

I enjoyed my time with Chief Carberry – or “Sue” – one of our newest board members. We are excited to have her on the board, and I am sure that Scott is happy that his persistence in inviting her onto our board has paid off. We welcome Chief Sue Carberry to the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council’s board!