His last official duty will come on July 29, but IOP firefighter James Giddens hasn’t been counting down the days.
Having served the island’s fire department and all island residents for 23 years, Giddens knows it is time to leave, but at the same time kind of wants to stay.
“I have called IOP my second home since 2003 when I was hired,” said Giddens, who was honored with a farewell drop-in July 16. “I was always the ‘baby’ or youngest in the department – so it’s weird to think that I am old enough to hang up my boots.”
Fire Chief James Oliverius added that replacing someone of Giddens’ ability and dedication won’t happen just by reviewing potential applicants. “Public safety is a demanding career and comes with many missed family activities over two decades of service,” Oliverius said. “He will be deeply missed across so many levels.”
The biggest level, of course, is the service itself. Giddens’ pull toward firefighting started during his senior year of high school when he spotted another student wearing a Dorchester Volunteer Fire Department T-shirt.
“He told me the only way I could have one was to come by the station and volunteer,” Giddens said. “That is when I got bitten by the public safety bug.”
Starting in 2001 with the St. Andrews Fire Department in West Ashley, Giddens soon acquired the nickname of ‘Bones’ because “I weighed about 130 pounds.”
He eventually came to IOP because he wanted to learn about the “water rescue side of the fire service.” Over the next 15 years, Giddens answered nearly every kind of fire call imaginable to control and extinguish fires, perform search and rescue operations, treat medical emergencies and to rescue people and animals from confinement or dangerous situations when necessary.
“We received a call for a catamaran boat that had capsized offshore,” he said. “I was the rescue swimmer on the jet ski that day. During the rescue, my arm was smashed between the catamaran and the jet ski, but … I was able to pull three people out of the ocean and secure the catamaran to pull it back to shore with my arm looking like Popeye’s.”
In 2018, he became a departmental battalion chief, with added duties. “I am a mentor, confidant and sounding board for my shift and the other shifts,” he said. “While there is definitely a technical aspect of my role during emergency response, the majority of my role is to create relationships and promote a fun and safe working environment for my team.”
When asked why he is leaving, Giddens said it is partly to spend more time with family and “to get into the consulting world by harnessing my professional experience and academic knowledge to help companies and individuals mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from different types of risks and disasters.”
“I know I’m going to miss helping people and running calls and hanging out with my brothers on shift,” he said. “But I am ready to hand the reins over to the next generation of firefighters who will take the service further than I could imagine.”
By L. C. Leach III
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