By: Cherisse Cobrand

Chief Teagarden, our newly appointed NIH Fire Chief and Director of the Division of Fire and Rescue Services (DFRS), always knew he wanted to be a fire fighter. While it is rare that one's career ends up being the one of their childhood dreams, Stephen has managed to become exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. What began as a part-time volunteer position with his local fire station when he was 16 years old has evolved into more than two decades of progressive leadership, absolute commitment and successful dedication to fire service and safety.

Stephen 's career at the NIH Fire Department began as a Firefighter in 2012. Over the years he ascended through the ranks to become Master Firefighter, Lead Firefighter Captain, Fire Protection Specialist Division Fire Chief and then Supervisory Firefighter Assistant Fire Chief—all while instituting methods to improve production and quality of work within DFRS, serving as the accreditation program manager, and ensuring compliance with fire protection codes and standards as an Incident Commander, the DFRS training officer, the lead safety officer, and as a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR).

I recently met with Fire Chief Teagarden to discuss everything from the path he took to his recent promotion, his favorite dessert, advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as an openly gay firefighter, the actor who would play him in a biopic, and his long-term goals as the man tasked with leading our NIH Fire Department into the future.

Cherisse: Congratulations on your promotion! Tell me a bit about how you got started in your career.

Stephen: I first got into federal fire service in 2009. I worked for the National Institutes of Standards and Technology up in Gaithersburg. And then in 2012, I transferred to NIH as a Firefighter and then worked my way up to Master Firefighter, then captain, then division chief, then assistant chief and now Fire Chief.

Have you always wanted to be a firefighter?

Pretty much. I started as a volunteer when I was 16 in high school. I was in a very rural area—Garrett County, up near Deep Creek Lake. It's the farthest western part of Maryland. I didn't even realize you could do this for a career. I found out that you could actually get paid to do it and so that's what I started to try to do. I was a 911 dispatcher for a little while and then finally got hired by the government.

Tell me your fondest career-related memory.

Oh, there's been a bunch. I think in general, just the family aspect that the fire service provides is what I love the most. The firefighters that I work with [are] an amazing group of people. Through the good days and bad days, they're there for you. We've laughed together, we've cried together and it's just a great group of firefighters.

On the flip side of that, what has been your most challenging career experience thus far?

COVID was a big game changer for us and for the fire service in general. For me particularly, because I took over running the COVID testing site on the NIH Bethesda campus. It was a virus that we weren't familiar with, so we didn't really know the protections we needed at the beginning. And as you know, initially it was all over the place. It was at a point where people were Lysol-ing their food. We didn't know what to expect. It was a lot of—I mean, just every day—changing our tactics to protect ourselves and to protect patients. It was evolving constantly.

Did you have any personal fears regarding not knowing the specifics of COVID and being a first responder—being on the frontline—and dealing with everything that came with that?

No, not any personal fears. I felt pretty protected with the protocols we were using. The thing is, running the COVID site initially was considered a death sentence because we didn't know anything about it and so many people were dying from the virus. When we were testing people, I was at a symptomatic site, so they were sick. You could see the fear in their eyes because they didn't know what was going to happen to them, and that was hard to deal with. We were constantly trying to like calm people's anxiety just to get tested.

What do you consider to be your greatest personal and professional achievement?

On a personal level, I was really happy when I bought my house, that was a big thing. I bought an 1860s row house in Frederick. Professionally, it has definitely been getting this position. It's been a lifelong dream and a long process. A lot of training and education went into it.

Tell us more about who Stephen Teagarden is as a person. Could you describe yourself to me in three words?

Passionate, motivated and introverted.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

Oh my, that's a tough one. I'd like Daniel Craig to play me, but I don't know if that would work. He's the polar opposite of me, but in my mind that would be a great fit.

What's your favorite activity to do when you're at home and during your rare periods of downtime?

I like to golf. There are several courses around me.

Do you get 8 hours of sleep at night?

No, never. I try for six, I usually get four. There's just the constant running in my mind of, what can we do next here at work? What's going to be the next adventure? The next move, the next progressive thing we're going to take on.

Is there a topic or cause for which you consider yourself to be an advocate?

Definitely. The LGBT community and DEI really hits home for me.

Speaking of DEIA, I know that you have worked on a few DEI-related initiatives and efforts here at NIH. How does DEI play a role in what you do as a firefighter, and especially here at NIH as our new Fire Chief?

I think they kind of go hand-in-hand because since we're in public service, we deal with everyone, and we have to treat everyone equally no matter anything about them. We see them as humans, not as different diversities. We are very welcoming and it's just kind of been that way from the very beginning. When I was 16 and joining, they were like, 'treat everyone like you would treat your grandmother.' That's kind of what we're taught. We're taught that overall, but also coming to the NIH—because of how diverse the NIH community is—it's its own little city with people from all walks of life, from all different countries. It's an amazing community.

​When we talk about diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, those can be sometimes vague and elusive terms. What do you think DEIA means in practice when it comes to firefighting and maybe specifically here at NIH, as our new Fire Chief?

I think it mainly just goes back to how you treat people and treating everyone equally. Also, trying to see things from different sides—seeing where people are coming from, because you may not know the struggles that they've grown up with and the struggles that they're still currently facing. Even though it's 2023, we still are constantly fighting like we're back in the 1950s and it's crazy, the struggles we're dealing with. Especially here recently. I feel like we're kind of going back in time a little bit.

What advice can you offer other fire service leaders who want to create meaningful impact when it comes to DEI issues, but maybe are unsure of where to start? Do you have any advice for any individuals who may be interested in DEI due to personal experience or who may be interested in being an ally?

I think definitely be willing to listen and be willing to learn from each other. But the biggest thing—and this is hard for everyone—is to have those difficult discussions, the uncomfortable discussions. Otherwise, you're not going to realize where people are coming from. You'll find out you have a lot more in common, but we're just not good at communicating it with each other.
Everyone's hesitant, everyone has that fear, but sometimes you just gotta take the leap.

What are your long-term goals as our new Fire Chief and Director of the Division of Fire and Rescue Services?

We've really taken off here in the last year and a half and become very progressive. I want to keep that momentum going. Continue being the top-notch department, grow as an inclusive environment and basically serve the NIH the best we can are my top goals. I hope that we become the go-to place to work. That's what I would really like. There are a lot of federal firefighting sites around the DMV, and I want to be the one that everyone wants to go to. And that once you get in here, you work until you retire. That's what I would like to see.

What are the most common fire-related emergencies and mishaps that you encounter working at NIH?

A big thing at NIH is storage of chemicals. Properly storing chemicals and properly securing cardboard and such in the hallways, keeping the aisles and the halls clear, and just being aware when you cook lunch. Make sure that you don't overcook your food or forget it and burn your stuff on the stove in your lunch break area—we get that a lot. I had one call where a person microwaved a potato, and it caught on fire. I think they meant to press one minute and accidentally hit 10 minutes.

So, do you see more incidents that are the result of human error or neglect?

I think everyone is so focused on work and they just get sidetracked. It's definitely not intentional. It's just that people are just so busy that they lose track of time. There's a new term I heard the other day—time blindness.

How can we as an NIH community work more collaboratively to reduce the number of these kinds of incidents during the course of our work?

Follow the orientations and trainings that are given every year and don't just click the button to go through the slides. Actually, read them and realize that they're there for a purpose. DOHS [Division of Occupational Health and Safety], the safety office, DFM [Division of the Fire Marshal] and DEM [Division of Emergency Management] do also. They're all there to help us. Working on evacuation times for fire drills and how chemicals are stored are big ones because of the labs we have on campus. We realize that the science comes first but the safety of the people doing the science is our top priority.

How can we as an NIH community help you and the rest of the NIH Fire Department be most successful?

A lot of people on campus don't realize that we are actually work for NIH. A lot of people think that we're with Montgomery County. So just having the cheerleader is what we need.
The support and the recognition—just see us. We're in the buildings every single day. Whether we're running on emergency calls or if we're just doing inspections, just acknowledge our existence. This is a town. This is what I tell my guys—the firefighters—all the time. We have a post office, we have a gas station. We have buses that run around. We really are our own little town. And we are here as public servants to protect the NIH community.

How would you like to be remembered?

We have what's called a 'Firefighters' Chief' and that's what I would like to be remembered as. Somebody who looked out for his fellow man, his fellow woman, and his fellow firefighters, and just made sure that I took care of them.