Tim Holm and Trina McCandless are the new emergency medical technicians-firefighters for the Haines Borough and fire department.
Holm was hired for a full-time, year-round position, and McCandless will be a seasonal, part-time employee.
Holm has lived in Haines on and off for about 12 years, and was a volunteer for the local fire department. He was previously a medic in the U.S. Army, with multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Holm took a course through Alaska Mountain Guides and volunteered 120 hours to receive his basic EMT training and certification.
Holm started work in Haines Sept. 1. and said he likes helping people and interacting with the community in his new position.
“You meet people on the worst day of their lives and they remember you,” Holm said. He said those people appreciate the work that EMTs do for them.
McCandless, 25, worked seasonally as a medic and safety coordinator at the Toolik Field Station on the North Slope, operated by the Institute of Arctic Biology at University of Alaska Fairbanks. She has experience as an emergency medical services professional at fire departments in Wrangell, Sitka and Skagway. McCandless was also a wilderness guide and EMS lieutenant in Ester.
“I’m looking forward to doing something productive that I love,” McCandless said. “I really enjoy doing EMS work because it’s an essential service in a community.”
McCandless attended the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in New York and graduated with a customized degree in emergency services for underserved populations.
She said she started to take prerequisite courses for graduate school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and will continue to take online courses through University of Alaska Southeast this winter. She will start work in Haines Oct. 3.
The job description says the EMT-firefighters are “mainly responsible for functioning as a responding firefighter and EMT when the need arises and for maintenance of the records, facilities, inventory, tools and equipment of the Department and public education on fire prevention and safety.”