What makes someone run toward danger when everyone else runs away? 🚒

Cleveland Fire Chief Chris Ellington didn’t dream of being a firefighter—it started as peer pressure from friends. Yet, within seven years, he was chief at just 28 years old. In our conversation, he opens up about learning firefighting “on the way to a call,” leading a department that grew from 230 calls a year to nearly 3,000, and what he believes truly sets firefighters apart.

Would you ever step into a career where the training never ends and the stakes are life or death?

We talked to him about how the fire department went from being volunteers to all professionals, the training involved in being a firefighter and what he loves most about Johnston County. So listen in.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Best Of Johnston County Podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden. And on today's episode we have the Cleveland Fire Chief Chris Ellington, and we're gonna do a couple of episodes with Chief Ellington. This first one we're gonna talk a little bit about him growing up here in the Cleveland community his finding his calling into public service and fire protection as when he was in high school. His early career when he became the chief and he was a volunteer. He was a volunteer chief and he had three regular employees to now where he has over 35.

The Best Of Johnston County Podcast comes out every single Monday. It has now for over 21 months. So go back and listen to some of the previous episodes. We've had a lot of great guests, including the majority of the county commissioners now, Congressman Brad Knott, local dentist Tim Sims, local realtor, Donald O'Meara. We've had Adrian O’Neal the County Parks Rec Director. A lot of great people have been on this podcast. So go back and listen. If you love Johnston County as much as I do, this podcast is for you. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Ellington: Thank you.

Jonathan Breeden: Or should I just call you chief?

Chris Ellington: You, you can just call me Chris.

Chris Ellington: My name's Chris Ellington. I'm the fire chief of the Cleveland Fire Department, born and raised here in Johnston County. In the Cleveland community. The Cleveland community, as you know, has changed over the years

Jonathan Breeden: a lot since you were a child.

Chris Ellington: Absolutely. One, one thing I always tell everybody that's not from here. I grew up near the Cleveland Elementary School, and I played outside as a child underneath a huge oak tree, and everybody would go by and knew your name. They would holler out the window, you know when you're going by, and if five cars came by on a day that you didn't know them, that was something.

Now, if you can go sit out in that same area and see five people, you know that that's a whole end of the whole nother end of the spectrum there. But it's it is, Cleveland has, has grown. It is it is been good. It's, it's been a good thing for the community and, and for the county as a whole.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. I mean, you go back, I mean, I guess when you grew up in Cleveland, it was, I mean, Don Wells and his brother.

Chris Ellington: Yep.

Chris Ellington: there's not many Cleveland originals is what I'll call 'em. Um. We're, we're kind of fading out a little bit.

And this was the last stretch of I 40 between California and Wilmington, North Carolina to open. And it was that opening of that stretch of 40 right through here. The Create 40 42 36 Veteran Parkway that really I think helps start spurring the growth of Johnston County. I mean, I don't know how old you are, but you, I'm sure you were here, you've lived here your whole life.

When 40 opened,

Chris Ellington: I was, I'm 48 years old and I can remember 40 opening, and I remember the first thing that came to the interchange. Was a McDonald's.

Jonathan Breeden: It was a McDonald's, that's right. And a gas

Chris Ellington: station. And the bp And we, we thought that we had gone to another world nearby. Yeah. it was, it was something we, we didn't have the pleasure of.

And there was the McDonald's and there was the bp. And the BP had a payphone and people were listening like a pay, like, and so if you needed to make a call or you need a gas or McDonald's. This, this was the stop. And that was the only thing here. I have distinct memories of that right after the interstate opened and I guess you had Pedallers Village was still kind of a flea market.

Not really. The building it is now with the, with the businesses.

Chris Ellington: I tell people about Peddlers Village all the time, about how it was a flea market and people just can't, can't fathom that. And, how, how do things have grown here?

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Well, this

Chris Ellington: interchange has just exploded.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, it's, it's unbelievable.

So it it's changed. It's changed a lot. So. So when did you decide what got you to where you thought you might wanna be a firefighter?

So the fire department was right across the road and that, that was the hub of Cleveland Interchange was, was nothing up here. And my friends and I knew a lot of people that were on the fire department, the, the wells is, and some more. And some friends had joined and, and said, Hey, y'all, y'all ought to come up here and hang out and see, see what's going on.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Chris Ellington: Probably one of the, the greatest things that happened was we getting on.

Jonathan Breeden: So did you start out as a volunteer?

Chris Ellington: Started out as a volunteer then we were all volunteered.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

They, they were there just to keep up with some of the paperwork that were, that was coming down the line. Then really the administrative part of the fire service was really evolving then trying to keep up with that and we, we had to keep up. There was not any farmer, farmers were going by the wayside here.

You know, we, we once grew tobacco here and now we grow houses in our feet.

Chris Ellington: I was told, when I first got on the department, I'll never forget it. I said, you know what kind of training I need to do? Do I need to go to JCC? What do I need to do? And they told me, said, what you need to learn how to do is put your gear on. When that pager goes off, get on that firer, we'll show you what to do. My first, first fire that I ever went to was a vehicle fire on Commerce Parkway.

And I got in the truck. I knew how to put my gear on but I know did not have, know how to put it on an air pack. And the guy said, do you know how, what you're doing? I said, I have a clue. He said, alright, do what I do. And I just mimicked everything he did. And I put on an air pack and there was a guy beside me that got on the same time.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, no.

Chris Ellington: So, so me and the other gentleman that showed us how to do it, you know, we, we put the fire out. But that was how I learned how to put on an air pack for the first time.

Jonathan Breeden: On the way to a call.

Chris Ellington: On the way to a call. Well, the way to a call.

Jonathan Breeden: That's not how it works now.

Chris Ellington: Absolutely not.

Jonathan Breeden: No, not how, how it works now.

So, so did you ever get any training or was it just on the job?

Chris Ellington: So in, in the beginning it was just on the job. You just learn as you went. You know, it was get between the veterans and they're gonna show you what to do and it's not a bad way to learn. We can't do it in today's world. But I was a better fireman for it.

I will say that. I finally discovered that I really did need some kind of training and, and sought that out through JCC and

Jonathan Breeden: well that's good

Chris Ellington: and became certified.

Jonathan Breeden: So what were you doing back then for a paying job? Since this was a volunteer firefighter role.

Chris Ellington: So I had just got, when I got on the fire department, I had just got hired by Johnston County Schools and I was working for Johnston County Schools in the facility services division, and I was doing plumbing work.

And, so I was doing that Monday through Friday, you know, volunteering at the fire station. Then we ran somewhere around 230 calls a year and we thought we were really doing something.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Chris Ellington: Probably in the mid 90s that really kicked off. And the need, a lot of the ambulance services or rescue squads, what they used to call, were volunteers as well. So in the Cleveland community, we either had an ambulance coming from McGee Crossroads or coming from downtown Clayton, and that was who serviced us.

So the need here to have those first responders is what we called 'em to get there, get basic lifesaving skills, started while the ambulance was coming, was huge. That was a huge thing and, and we started somewhere around the mid 90s.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So these volunteers not only were trained to fight fires, but they got trained in EMT services.

Chris Ellington: Correct. And there used to be a certification that was called First responder, it went to medical responder and it was just a step below EMT.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Chris Ellington: Now it has evolved and probably 90% of your departments in Johnston County are at an EMT level.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Right. And so of the, almost all the people who work for you or, or at least the EMT and some are paramedics, I think, right?

Jonathan Breeden: Right. I, it's just, it's just amazing to me. 'cause I mean, that's a whole nother set of training.

Chris Ellington: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, I mean, and it's not the same training.

Chris Ellington: EMT is somewhere around, I hate to even give this figure somewhere.

It is over 300 closer to 400 hours. Worth of training, right. That someone has to go through.

Jonathan Breeden: So yeah. And so now people that want to be on your fire department, it's how many hours of training?

Chris Ellington: The fire certification is about 400 hours.

Jonathan Breeden: 400 hours.

Chris Ellington: And then you have a medical certification on top of that. A lot of our guys are also technical rescuers.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Chris Ellington: Well, I'm sorry. 90, about 98% of 'em are tech technical rescuers. Including swift water. Swift water rescue as well.

Jonathan Breeden: So how do you get 400 hours of training? Do you pay them to go to that or do they have to come to you as a certified firefighter for you hire?

Chris Ellington: So rewinding right back, back some time in when pre-COVID.

we'll call pre. All right.

Jonathan Breeden: Pre-COVID All right.

Chris Ellington: pre-COVID, we had about 35 volunteer firefighters. And when COVID hit, you know, everybody, the big scare, we sent everybody home and said, look, unless we have a major fire, let the paid staff in trying to keep them well and trying to keep them their employers.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Chris Ellington: In our fire station.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Chris Ellington: We have about 11 or 12 certified fire instructors in our department, so we could deliver that training through JCC. And that that was how we trained a lot of people. A lot of those volunteers did get trained and get certified, and some of those are now employed by us, so that has probably been our best avenue lately.

We have been training our junior firefighters and they're getting trained through. Through the school system with the high school program or going to JCC. That's been a very successful program. Getting them educated and coming in and like I tell 'em, I said, you mostly, you've been here since you were 14.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Oh, that's awesome. And, and, they have the fire academy at West Johnston High School. I know. Or at least they did.

Chris Ellington: Is a Clayton High School.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Chris Ellington: and Triple S

Jonathan Breeden: Triple S Alright. It wasn't West Johnston, I think.

Chris Ellington: No, it's, always been at Clayton.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, it's been at Clayton. okay

Chris Ellington: Clayton and Triple S

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Alright. Well, cool. Yeah. So yeah. So if you have a student out there who's interested. It acts, I think it's a magnet program. You can go there. And start getting the training. So do I have to have 400 hours before I start running calls or is it still like I get a few hours and then I get on the truck and I follow you?

Chris Ellington: We can get you basic certifications. Your hazmat, stuff like that. There's a requirement that you've gotta have before you go on a call and then we can put you on a truck and you can go and hands-on experience. I've always said this, I'm a certified fire instructor, but I can teach you more in the back of that firetruck I can in the classroom.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. No, I can understand.

And just, just teach 'em that way.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So if anybody's interested or they're listening to this, call you stop by the fire department.

Chris Ellington: Absolutely.

Jonathan Breeden: And you can help 'em get the training. Is there any cost for this training?

Come in, get your training run, participate in calls, and then get up the next morning and go back to your employer. I've always said that, you know, it's not fair to the employer because we're occupying more of their time than what they're giving their employer.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So you started in 98 learning how to put your air mask on your first call.

Chris Ellington: Yep.

Chris Ellington: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: That's a pretty rapid, that's a pretty rapid increase. And, and, and, you know, ranking stuff.

Chris Ellington: Maybe I, I, I would say I was in the right place at the right time. Cleveland was growing. Cleveland as a fire department was growing leaps and bounds. We were busting at the seams. And we just needed, we, we needed some, I don't just say really say fresh ideas, but we needed some involvement. The guys that were leading the department, then, nothing wrong with how they were doing it, but they had been there for 20 or 25 years already. It, they, they wanted to retire. They retired.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And well that's, that's, I mean, that's great. I mean, here you are 28 years old, you know, seven years into firefighting. At that point you were still working for the school system, I think.

Chris Ellington: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: And now you're gonna be the chief at 28 with a full-time job. With the school system, facility services. I mean, when did you sleep?

Chris Ellington: Well, and I had a 2-year-old

Jonathan Breeden: And you had a 2-year-old, so you probably was sleep for a 2-year-old. I remember that. Yeah.

Chris Ellington: There wasn't much sleep with a 2-year-old, but and, and that's kind of the breaking point.

I did it as a volunteer for a couple years and I'll never forget it. At one board meeting, I told 'em, I told the board, I said, look, I said you need a fire chief, you're looking at building a second fire station, hiring more employees. At that point, we had three full-time employees and we also had about eight part-time employees that worked at rotating and ship. I said it's not fair for me to supervise the employees that at the school system.

Chris Ellington: Yep.

Jonathan Breeden: So you left the school system and you became the full-time chief for Cleveland?

Chris Ellington: Yep. I left, left the school system after 11 years

Jonathan Breeden: okay

Chris Ellington: to come to Cleveland.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And you're at that point, I mean, you become chief at 28 years old. If I'm doing the math of my head here, yeah.

Chris Ellington: 28 years old.

Jonathan Breeden: That's a pretty young chief.

Chris Ellington: It was the youngest at the time in town.

Jonathan Breeden: I've, I've never heard, I've never met a 28-year-old fire chief.

Chris Ellington: And, you know, looking back, I was like, man, me looking back at 48 years old, looking back at me at 28, I'm like, what were you doing? What was the department thinking?

Jonathan Breeden: I got you. I got you. so, so y'all provide the training and the firefighters, I think you told me now work 48 hours on, two days on, four days off.

Chris Ellington: Correct.

Jonathan Breeden: And it's, and it's that way 365 days a year?

Chris Ellington: That's correct.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Chris Ellington: The only, the only, the only thing that, that may vary there is if they have to work Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. We, we do have something built in there, so they don't, they can't spend time with their families.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so I guess they do get to sleep at the fire station.

Chris Ellington: They do. You know, part of that old stigma is, you know, the firemen are sitting around all the time. Well, a fire chief told me one time, and he's retired now. He told me, he said, you don't get paid. For what you do, you get paid for what you might have to do. And there's some truth to that, but I would say that Cleveland's very busy.

Our employees are very busy. They do get to sleep in the department and that they have downtime.

Chris Ellington: And it varies by station.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Chris Ellington: So, Station 1, that's where all the admin staff is at as well.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Chris Ellington: We have myself an assistant chief, a training captain. So when you have this 35 employees, plus you have to have somebody to deliver training.

Jonathan Breeden: Absolutely.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. So goodness gracious. So three firefighters in the administrative staff at Station One.

Chris Ellington: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: You said there's some part-timers.

Chris Ellington: Some part-timers.

Jonathan Breeden: Station two has three.

Chris Ellington: Three,

Jonathan Breeden: and then station three has five

Chris Ellington: five a day. Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Alright. And you have 35 full-time, full-time firefighters now?

Chris Ellington: That's correct. Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: And then you still have, you have your admin staff.

Chris Ellington: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: You don't count as one of those 35,

Chris Ellington: right?

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Right. And I know you work all the time.

Chris Ellington: Yeah, absolutely.

Jonathan Breeden: You hardly ever sleep. So you did, does the fire chief get overtime? Like, like you were out all last night, you worked all day today, no overtime for the fire chief.

Chris Ellington: That the admin and staff does not receive overtime.

Jonathan Breeden: You don't receive overtime?

Chris Ellington: We, we, we go out and just answer the calls and deal with emergencies.

Chris Ellington: I think, and I say this, I, I've coined this phrase too, that firefighters are wired different than than most people. I tell my wife this all the time and she just not understand it. It takes a special person to be a firefighter, really and truly. It's not for everybody. A lot of people don't wanna see what we have to see. But if you get into it, I think it's contagious.

I've seen that through our junior firefighter program. They get in, they go to his first couple calls where we can get 'em to, or they go to their first trainings and they get involved a little bit and it, it's just contagious. They can't get enough of it at that point.

So if you enjoy helping the community or helping your fellow man, it's a rewarding. I'd say it's a rewarding career. I,

Jonathan Breeden: i, I'm sure it is. I'm sure it is. And and at a tremendous rush to be able to go out and help and, and fix the situation and

Chris Ellington: Absolutely

Chris Ellington: It's probably a small town field still. You can go from the hustle and bustle of Cleveland. All the way down to the most rural part of the world you want to go to, and you can do that in about a 20 minute drive. And the people that are from Johnston County are still the people from Johnston County. you know,

Jonathan Breeden: they're the best people in my opinion.

Chris Ellington: Absolutely, absolutely.

Jonathan Breeden: No doubt. No doubt. Well, we'd like to thank Cleveland Fire Chief Chris Ellington for being our guest on this episode of The Best Of Johnston County Podcast. Check back in a couple weeks, we have another episode where we're gonna talk to him a little bit more about his career in firefighting and all the community service that the firefighters do.

Volunteering their time in this community, including Celebrate Cleveland and the Cleveland Christmas Parade and their, their camps for kids. So if you wanna hear 'em talk about that, check back in a couple weeks. Like we said earlier, please like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok X or Instagram.

That's the end of today's episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.