WALKER, Mich. — This year, the city of Walker appointed a new fire chief, Russell Schoultz, who purposefully chose Walker as his new home.
As a child, Schoultz experienced a life-changing event that shaped his career path. “When I was 7 years old, I was actually rescued from a building that was heavily damaged during a hurricane, Hurricane Frederick,” he said. “From that moment on, I became enamored by public safety and emergency services.”
At 18, Schoultz began his professional journey by enrolling in fire training. He later became a paramedic and a registered nurse—a choice that allowed him to work on his days off from the fire department. Schoultz also served as a military reservist, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Faced with questions about improving emergency medical care, he obtained a master's degree as a nurse practitioner. Throughout this time, he remained committed to the fire and rescue business.
When asked about his experiences during a significant event, Schoultz reflected on Hurricane Katrina. “The biggest challenge was no matter how much you prepare and train for something large, there's always something larger that you haven't prepared for,” he said.
Schoultz is now bringing his expertise to Walker. With a medical background, he knows that fire personnel must have specific priorities, mainly...time.
"By time for the citizen to get to a trauma center for a surgery, and that's things simply as stopping bleeding, putting on tourniquets, knowing how to do those things that seems like a simple task, but they're very, they have to be done under a lot of pressure. They have to be done with just seconds to spare."
He faces the same challenges other departments are dealing with. "We need more people to go to calls and fires, that's no different than anywhere in all 50 states. And so we right now are advertising for paid on call firefighters we're looking for people that want to serve their community."
He praised the collaboration among various emergency services and law enforcement agencies in Western Michigan, noting, “To me, that collaboration and partnership truly makes a community safer.”
And Walker is just the kind of community Shoultz and his wife were looking for.
“I wanted to go to a smaller community that has a true community,” he explained. “It's just the right size community, right size fire department, and the second we got here, the friendliness of the people, how hospitable everybody was...it’s still overwhelming how nice everyone is.”
Schoultz is also familiar with Michigan winters, having visited the state for military training in Alpena. When asked about local accents, he remarked, “I believe I don't really hear accents in Michigan, and actually people make fun of my accent, but I have a very light accent compared to where I come from.”
Schoultz brings a wealth of experience and new ideas to the Walker Fire Department, which will become a 24-7 agency this fall. Updates on this transition will be provided as they become available.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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