The man who teaches heroes

Portland State graduate Edward Lindsey didn’t come to the university for a career in academia. He came because he wanted to teach people how to fight fires.

Lindsey, who joined the U.S. Air Force as a crash rescue specialist just after graduating high school, is now the department chair for Fire Protection Technology at Portland Community College (PCC), where he has been working since 1989.

Lindsey said he has had many experiences fighting fire, something he finds very exciting.

Going to PSU for a master’s degree in public administration, said Lindsey, was just so he would have the experience needed to teach classes on firefighting.

“The education at PSU gave me the opportunity and the qualifications to work at PCC,” Lindsey said.

Some of Lindsey’s experiences have been a real inspiration to him, he said. Early in his career as a crash rescue specialist, Lindsey was sent to extinguish a fire caused by derailment of a train carrying propane tanks.

“We were approaching the disaster area when one of the propane tanks blew up,” Lindsey said. “It was the closest experience I had to a disaster movie-the temperatures were so high that the metal was melting.”

Lindsey worked for three years as a crash rescue specialist before a four-year stint with the Oregon Fire Department. In 1980, Lindsey re-joined the Air Force as a reservist and pararescuer. It was during this time that he joined PSU and went on to earn his master’s degree.

“The GI Bill was a great help in supporting my education, as I was married with two children at that time” Lindsey said.

In 1989, PCC was approached by the Portland Fire Bureau to start a fire protection program to train firefighters. The community college approached Lindsey about working in their fire protection department, which he accepted.

He said that the program started as a means for the Portland Fire Bureau employees to earn degrees for career advancement, but now the students mainly consist of people planning to join the fire department.

“It was a one-person show at the time,” Lindsey said of the program’s beginnings.

As chair of the department, Lindsey spends his time instructing students on fire protection technology, which focuses on training future firefighters to use firefighting equipment as well as practical problem solving in fire-related incidents.

Lindsey also oversees educational policies and reviews firefighter training as a district liaison for Multnomah County and North Clackamas.

Lindsey adores his career.

“If I wasn’t in this career, I would be an EMP-paramedic or an ambulance rescue specialist,” he said. The enthusiasm and energy would be hard to contain in a less exciting area of work, he said.

Born and raised in Oregon, Lindsey graduated from Madison High School and has since dedicated almost 35 years to firefighting. Lindsey said that five years down the road, toward his retirement, he still sees himself committed to his line of work, passing his skills on to the next generation of firefighters.