Alexandria’s new Fire Chief Felipe Hernandez isn’t planning on making any job changes any time soon.
Hernandez was sworn in last month. He’s the city’s first Latino fire chief, a distinction that he’s continuously made throughout his career. He was the first Latino lieutenant of the Rochester Fire Department in New York, the first Latino fire chief in Rochester, as well as the first Latino superintendent of the New York State Academy of Fire Science.
Hernandez said that he plans on being in Alexandria for a “very long time,” echoing sentiments shared by City Manager Jim Parajon when he hired the chief at the end of May.
“He is a highly effective communicator and leader with the qualities and resilience to lead our fire department for years to come,” Parajon said in a press release.
Hernandez said that’s because he’s worked twice as hard as his counterparts to get to where he is.
“Sometimes you have to work twice as hard just to be recognized as you move up the ladder,” Hernandez told ALXnow. “No one can challenge my credentials and my background, because I put all the work and effort to balance myself to make sure that I was a well rounded leader.”
The walls of Hernandez’s office are still bare, unadorned of plaques or pictures of his 30-year career. He’s a simple person, he says, and is still still getting to know the ropes by meeting with his commanders and visiting every station.
“I’m a simple person,” Hernandez said. “Even in my own home office I have nothing up.”
Hernandez took the reins from interim Fire Chief Jim Schwartz, who ran the organization following the abrupt departure of former Chief Corey Smedley last fall. One of Smedley’s last big initiatives was his AFD Forward plan to replace fire engines with ambulances. Using 2022 data, AFD found that 72% of their calls for service (out of more than 27,000 incidents) were medical and rescue-related, while just 15% were fire alarm and fire-related.
Schwartz put AFD Forward on hold, and told us that department staff were sifting through seven years of calls for service to determine if the reduction in fire engines would have in impact on neighboring jurisdictions.
Now Hernandez is reviewing that data, and said that the plan is still on hold.
“There is no perfect model,” Hernandez said. “If I could go somewhere and get a perfect model, we’ll be all set. It does take looking at data and historical information and talking to your command staff and also the membership in regards to what direction we’re going to move forward.”
Hernandez continued, “I’m currently still looking at the data, evaluating the information, but I’m also meeting with each command staff level at this time. I met with my assistant chiefs, deputy chiefs, now I’m meeting with the battalion chief level. Once I’m done with those meetings, from there I’ll work with them to reevaluate the plan. I got to make sure whatever I implement is what I feel is best for the city, for the department, for the community, based on the appropriate information and data. You know, the one good thing about being an outsider is I come with a clean slate. I have no preference, so I’m truly being objective about this, to make sure that whatever decision that moves the department forward is not personal. It’s based on facts.”
Hernandez started his career in Rochester in the early 1990s, and rose through the ranks to become executive deputy chief in 2019 and chief in 2021. He then retired in 2023 to become the Superintendent of the New York State Academy of Fire Science for a year before coming to Alexandria. He has a master’s degree in leadership from Nazareth College and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from State University of New York.
Hernandez says that the pandemic taught him that he could lead a department. At the time that COVID-19 broke out across the country, he was the deputy chief responsible for operations.
“I think that was one of the toughest part in my career,” Hernandez said. “But I was there for the challenge. It was like the fourth quarter of a football game. Give me the ball, I want the ball, and let me see what I could do to help move things forward. And I did. It was an amazing experience to see what I was capable of doing as a leader, as a professional, and we did a great job. We never had to close firehouses and we maintained our staffing levels.”
Hernandez is also setting up meetings with presumptive Mayor-elect Alyia Gaskins, and says that he has to make some important hires, especially with communications.
“This is what I worked for throughout my career,” Hernandez said. ” This is why I’ve taken training, gone to school for my masters, taken certifications, gotten the previous experience, to be here right now. So, as crazy as it may sounds, I’m very excited about this opportunity. I thrive on work, so even when there’s a lot going on, I’m enjoying it.”
Hernandez now lives in Old Town with his wife and their two dogs.
