For many immigrants, government affairs, such as the functions of local government and the resources they manage, are still foreign to us, even after living in this country for decades. Part of the reason is we rarely have the opportunity to access this information, and government affairs are complex and challenging to understand.As an important part of the 2024 "Civic Engagement" project by the Society of Heart’s Delight, I recently had the privilege to interview Suwanna Kerdkaew, the Chief of the Santa Clara County Fire Department. During this interview, Suwanna walked me through the essential functions of the SSC Fire Department, an agency that’s highly related to our daily lives; she also shared some inspiring personal stories.Suwanna is a first generation immigrant from Thailand. Her stepfather met her mother overseas during the Vietnam War when Suwanna was already born. At the age of 3, Suwanna came to the United States with her parents. Like many immigrants, Suwanna worked hard to obtain a university degree in biology and joined a biotechnology company afterwards. However, she always had a passion for community service. She was always wondering what it is like to be a firefighter every time she heard the siren of a fire truck. She also recognized the fact that there were few women and Asians in the firefighting profession at that time. Meanwhile Suwanna continued to volunteer at local hospitals and non-profit organizations in her spare time and then 9/11 happened. When 911 happened, Suwanna was already interviewing for a firefighter position in San Francisco.What struck Suwanna most is the overwhelming number of applicants for firefighters at the interview site, despite the tragedy in the World Trade Center. They were men and women from different races, age groups and professions. This made the already highly competitive firefighter interviews even more intense. Ultimately, Suwanna was hired by the Santa Clara County Fire Department in 2002. She started as a medic and was later promoted to captain. Because of  her outstanding leadership, Suwanna was appointed as the Fire Chief in April 2022. Suwanna is also a member of the LGBTQ community and lives with her wife and their 17-year-old daughter.

Can you tell us about your main responsibilities as the Chief of the Santa Clara County Fire Department and the primary functions of the department?Interestingly, the Santa Clara County Fire Department, also known as the Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, is a fire district within the county. Compared to a larger entity like San Jose, where the San Jose Fire Department is a department within the city government, the county fire department is overseen by a board of supervisors, similar to a company’s board of directors. We have autonomy because we’ve demonstrated significant leadership, capacity, and commitment. My role is somewhat like a city manager, responsible for managing the daily operations of our fire district. We handle fleet and facilities, our own hiring and promotions, business services, and payroll. All these tasks fall within the purview of the Fire Chief’s office. Additionally, we have an operations department that handles emergency calls. Whenever someone calls 911 from any of the seven cities, towns, and unincorporated areas within Santa Clara County, we respond. Once the call is transferred or initiated from the county communications center, we get notified, then we send the appropriate risk-based dispatching. If it’s a typical EMS (Emergency Medical Service) call, we usually send one unit. Our Paramedics and EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) can immediately initiate what we call advanced life support on the scene, which we are very proud of.
Of course, another significant responsibility of our fire department (as reflected in our name) is to put out fires, whether it's structure fire or vegetation fire. The number of units we dispatch depends on the information the caller gives us. If someone says, "Hey, I see a whole house on fire," we will send a lot of resources. If someone says, "Oh, I see some decorative bark burning," we might only send one fire engine. So it depends on the caller’s description. We also respond to hazmat calls and technical rescues (i.e, rescue people from crashed vehicles). We respond to lift assist, which means if somebody lives in our jurisdiction and they need help because they fell and couldn't get back up, we'll go and we'll assess to make sure there are no injuries and if there are injuries, we'll call an ambulance to transport them. If there are no injuries, we'll put them back in bed. 
In my view, our work is not limited to the county. Recently, we had a strike team called 2310 Charlie. They went to Los Angeles County to help put out fires because there were multiple wildfires happening simultaneously.  If a community is in need, we send resources If we can. We have sent resources to San Diego and all the way up to Washington State. During Hurricane Katrina, we sent folks to New Orleans as well.Through our CERRS Team (Community Education and Risk Reduction Services) program, we provide disaster preparedness training to residents. We also have a fire prevention division. We have contract relationships with the county government, and these contracts are quite complex, but I will briefly introduce them here. We have a contract with the county to provide fire marshal services. We have a contract with the county to provide executive leadership at the Office of Emergency Management - meaning we have county fire employees who are up there leading that county department. We also have a contract with the county to provide executive leadership over County 9-1-1 Communications. We are very proud of our cooperative relationship with the county government and will continue to support our community, whether or not they are within our service response area.What is the difference between city-level fire departments and county-level fire departments, and how do they cooperate?This is a great question. First of all, our fire district includes several inherent cities, including Cupertino, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, and part of Saratoga. Then we have several contract service areas. We are contracted to provide service to the city of Los Altos, the city of Campbell and the Saratoga Fire Protection District, or Saratoga Fire District, which is the other geographic part of the city of Saratoga, as well as the Los Altos Hills County Fire District. Their acronym is LAHCFD. For example, when I meet with the city manager of Cupertino, she knows she doesn't have to worry about fire department matters because we handle all fire stations, equipment, recruitment, promotion, retirement, and all employee benefits without affecting the city's budget. For contract cities, we still handle these matters but we are paid by the cities or the entities that come into the district through contracts, not from a tax base that comes into the district. This is beneficial because ultimately what we strive for is a regional approach that transcends city boundaries during firefighting. A fire doesn't care which city it starts in; it will cross jurisdictions. This regional approach allows us to dispatch the nearest resources for disaster response first.We report our performance monthly. We inform our jurisdictions of the incidents in their city or fire district, the education we provided to their community, and our response times so they know how long it takes us to get to the calls on average. We are very proud of being an accredited agency, meaning every five years, we conduct statistical analysis with a lot of data to study how we serve the community. We achieve this through the accreditation process.We also publish standards of cover for fire services, which are detailed and available on our website. So if anyone wants to know how many calls were made in Cupertino, they can find the answer on our website. Do you want to know what types of calls we received? It's all on our website. We strive to be transparent. For us, it doesn't matter if an emergency is in the Northern part of Los Altos or Palo Alto because we provide automatic aid to Palo Alto. Automatic aid means if we are closer, we will respond within the agreed upon area. We also have automatic aid agreements with other neighboring jurisdictions as well. Returning to our relationship with cities and towns, having one fire department serving these adjacent cities in the West Valley is very beneficial to the community.

How does the fire department cooperate with other government agencies?One of our key partners is the county government. We also cooperate with other city departments. For example, we recently conducted a wildfire drill, inviting departments from Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara City, and others. As long as we can bring them in, we invite them to practice with us because we improve through joint incident drills, much like practicing an instrument. They basically practice managing the incident, calling resources, ensuring logistical support, and making sure finances are in place. All components of the incident command system are exercised. We included Santa Cruz units, Cal Fire units, and the California Emergency Services Office (CAL OES), and we cooperated with these personnel. So we cooperate not only at the city level or neighboring city level but also at the county, state, and federal levels. We are very proud to be a resource for any community in need, whether for preparation, mitigation, response, or recovery.What are the department's proudest achievements so far?Well, when I close my eyes, I think of our staff. I know this might sound a bit trite, but we have a group of very talented people who bring a variety of different skills. Our staff is very diverse in terms of race, gender, religion, life experience, sexual orientation, education, etc. This means they bring diverse skills, different life experiences, or an ability to empathize with others, which allows us to serve our very diverse community better. We have people who speak different languages, come from different cultures and religions, or have no religious beliefs, and I am very proud of that.Another thing that we are proud of is our continuous effort to harness the latest technological advancements to improve our services. Whether it's using advanced mapping systems or developing detailed pre-plans, we are always looking for ways to be more progressive and forward-facing. This ongoing work is inspired by our surroundings, as Cupertino is part of Silicon Valley, home to many tech companies. We strive to mirror the innovative and advanced approaches of these companies in our own operations, and this commitment to progress is something I am really proud of.What advice do you have for women in different fields looking to enhance their leadership skills?As I mentioned before, when I was in college and saw fire trucks passing by, I hesitated because I didn't want to be the first of anything. But get past that. If you are passionate about a profession, even if you find yourself in the minority, don’t hesitate.Your work ethic and true self will shine out and lead you forward. After all, what you want to showcase most is your work performance and how you treat others. In my previous career, I often found myself as one of the few women in the workplace. When I became a firefighter, women made up about 10% of the workforce. You might find yourself as the only woman on a strike team, or you might find that a certain group of people is underrepresented, but that doesn’t really matter. The people who helped me in my career were not my demographic because the people in my demographic weren’t there. But as long as I actively asked for help, I received it. Seeking help is not just about asking for it but showing your dedication, your willingness to work hard, and your genuine passion. If you are truly invested, this work will not just be a job because you are passionate about it. Even if you don't get a promotion in the end, it doesn’t matter because you have shown who you are through constant effort.So my advice for leadership is: as a woman, if you encounter an opportunity but are unsure if anyone has walked that path before, tell yourself you can be the first. Additionally, many of your advocates are out there may not look like you or sound like you, but they’re there.  So, believe in yourself and stay kind. Also, seriously consider the kind of person you want to be and strive to be the best version of yourself. I think that will go a long way in a leadership role.  Also remember to pay that leadership forward.

Is there any other important information you think our residents should know?There is a lot of useful information on our website. We understand that not everyone has access to the internet or a computer, but if you do, please visit our website, sccfd.org. Our website explains who we are and the areas we serve. There is a lot of information on the Community Education page too. For example, if someone wants to learn CPR, they can find related courses to see if they are suitable. As a community member, you are the first step in saving lives. Community support is crucial to ensuring firefighters can successfully save lives.We also provide information on preparing for wildfire season. Our current public service announcement focus is NO to fireworks, and please go and watch the condoned, organized fireworks. There have already been so many fires this year, and although we have been working hard to protect people's property, we cannot control where the embers go. When a fire lights off in brush or vegetation, it’s very unpredictable. These are important messages we aim to convey from the fire department to the community.Finally, I want to say that we are always here to serve you, and if you need help, we will do our utmost to assist.What should someone do if they want to find a job in the fire department?I suggest starting with firefighter or fire service courses, or fire science courses offered by community colleges in the Bay Area. As the saying goes, while people are running out of buildings, firefighters are rushing in. This means that firefighters need to put the community first, not themselves. This is hard. So, I think taking fire science or fire academy courses can give you a taste of whether this is the right fit for you. If there are volunteer opportunities at the fire department nearby, you can try those as well. The job of a firefighter also requires EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) certification, so you need to take those courses. It’s not a simple process; most times you can’t just fill out an application and become a firefighter.There are prerequisites to becoming a firefighter. For example, here, you need to be at least 18 years old, have a California driver's license, be a U.S. citizen, and have EMT certification. After completing these steps through community college courses, you can see if this is what you want to do. I wish I could say it’s easy, but it’s not, partly because the job is very challenging, like the recent eight-alarm fire in Redwood City, which requires constant skill-building.If you get hired, we will have you attend an 18-week training academy that tests your mental strength, academic strength, and physical strength. When you complete this successfully, we will pin your badge and officially declare you a firefighter. We also have a personal services division who is the gateway to our hiring recruitments, and this information is on our website. If you are interested, we also have volunteer programs.We have some outreach events, which are usually posted on our social media by the county fire department. We don't host these events often, but when we do, it's a great opportunity to learn from firefighters who have just gone through the entire application and training process. Overall, the process of applying to become a firefighter is very competitive and requires time, patience, and perseverance. People need to understand that this is not an overnight process but requires full commitment.

In my conversation with Suwanna, I could feel her passion and pride for this job throughout the entire process. As Suwanna mentioned, this is a job that requires true selflessness, and without immense passion, it’s hard to be in this job. Therefore, I have always held this profession in high regard. If you are passionate about community service and enjoy challenging work, I believe being a firefighter can bring you a great sense of accomplishment. Besides being a firefighter, the fire department has many other functional roles, such as IT, business service, administration, etc., which are great opportunities to enter the public service field. Please follow the Santa Clara County Fire Department's website (sccfd.org), Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Nextdoor, and x. Stay tuned for our next interview story!