Stephen Truesdell
In Case of Fire
According to Forklift Danceworks’ Founder and Artistic Director, Allison Orr, Stephen Truesdell is the person who started it all, kicking off the company’s twenty years of “troublemaking” by suggesting Orr make a dance with the Austin Fire Department. Truesdell, who has now been with AFD for 22 years, quickly became a key collaborator on Forklift’s In Case of Fire, which premiered in the fall of 2001.
“We were practicing [for the show] on September 11th [2001]. The morning of, we were at the Pleasant Valley drill field. That’s where we were on that day. And that changed everything. Because we were just going to do this cool show and then all of a sudden it had a whole different meaning.”
Today, Truesdell is a Division Chief for the Austin Fire Department but, in honor of Forklift’s 20th Anniversary, he and Orr took a walk down memory lane to talk about his days at Station 11 and their time working together. Listen to their conversation (or read the transcript below) to hear how the idea for In Case of Fire first emerged, what surprised Stephen about the process, and how he reflects on the project 20 years later.
Stephen Truesdell: My name is Stephen Truesdell and I am a Division Chief with the Austin Fire Department.
Allison Orr: And Stephen, how long have you been with the fire department?
ST: 22 years.
AO: You’ve been with AFD for 22 years?!
ST: Yeah.
AO: How the heck did that happen?
ST: Yeah, started in ’98, July 6th of ‘98.
AO: But you were a firefighter before that?
ST: Yeah, I worked at Westlake before that, so altogether 30 years and some change.
AO: Wow. Stephen, what do you love about your job? What do you love about being a firefighter?
ST: I love that every day is different. You know, it’s not a boring routine. You know, we always have unique opportunities to help people. My first driver in the Austin fire department, Don Murdock told me, “People are just glad to see you, you know?” “We gotta be there within three minutes with either a fire hose or oxygen”` is how he put it… whether or not we were going on a medical or a fire call. But, you know, we get to help people every day and we see… Unfortunately, we see some stuff that we would rather not, but we also really get to enjoy when we can help people out when they’re having a really bad time. And that’s kind of the crux of it for me.
AO: Yeah. Wow. That’s great. And what’s hard about it? What’s one thing that’s hard about the work?
ST: The hardest part is just when you see people who’ve suffered, you know, a loss… either of a loved one, or if they lost their belongings. You know, one thing I learned early on is you might go to this big, fancy house that burns completely to the ground and you see that the owner’s like, “Well, at least we got out. We’re okay. But I have insurance, it’ll take care of it.” And then someone else with a very modest home with hardly anything in it, loses it and they’re devastated because that’s all they have. So you really have to put things in perspective. And it’s really hard to see sometimes when people lose so much and there’s not really much else you can do, you feel bad when you leave, when you go back to the station, because there’s this… you know, you wish you could do more for them.
AO: Yeah. Yeah. Like it’s a life-changing event that you guys are witness to. You’re a witness to, yeah.
ST: Absolutely.
AO: So thinking about your job, can you just describe some of the movement of firefighting?
ST: You know, the one thing that comes to mind is just awkward movement because we have to do so…we find ourselves in some really unexpected situations. A lot of times you’re in crouched over positions and you’re crawling, and you’re doing things that your body’s not really used to doing. And oftentimes we don’t really get the opportunity to like stretch and warm up and prepare. So we do some unusual movement that even we don’t expect sometimes, even out of the ordinary for us.
AO: It sounds like it can be hard on your body sometimes.
ST: Oh, for sure. Yeah. That’s one thing I think you recognize pretty quickly in your career, that if you want to have a longer career, you need to promote up to the positions that do…you’re doing less of that really awkward, difficult work. And hopefully leaving that to the younger, more flexible and resilient bodies, because if you stay at that firefighter level for your whole career, it is really gonna take a toll on your body.
AO: Yeah. I definitely saw that. So I shadowed you guys… I hung out with you back in 2000–2001. We did our performance “In Case of Fire” in the fall of 2001.
ST: Yeah. We were practicing on 9/11 on September 11th [2001]. The morning of, we were at the Pleasant Valley drill field. That’s where we were on that day.
AO: Oh, I’ll forever remember it.
ST: Yeah. And that changed everything. Because we were just going to do this cool show and then all of a sudden it had a whole different meaning.
AO: Will you say more about that?
ST: You know, it was, at first, you know, you told us about things you’ve done in the past. Like what you had done in college and projects and we’re like, “Okay, we can see that correlation,” you know, we do a lot of things as a team and we understood, you know, where you were coming from. But then on 9/11, everything changed. And everything got a lot more serious in our job, you know, because now we were thinking about not just the dangers of fighting fires and going to car wrecks and responding to medicals, but now we were truly concerned that we were going to be targeted and something catastrophic might happen. And it was just pretty shocking for everyone.
AO: Yeah, and I know some of your fellow firefighters actually went to New York.`
ST: They did. In fact, some of them that were in the performance, I believe.
AO: Yeah. And I think there was a heightened awareness of you all and what you do at that time. And so… Here I was talking with you and as I remember it, Stephen, I said, “Well, I did this thing.” And then you said, “Well, you should just try that with the Fire Department!”
ST: Well, yeah!
AO: So can you tell me again, what do you remember about that very first… the very start of the process?
ST: What I remember was I said that kind of half-jokingly, but I did see the correlation, I really did. And then you liked the idea kind of. I was surprised. And then you thought, “Well, that’s a great idea” or whatever, you know, you obviously wanted to pursue it. And then I thought immediately, “Oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into?” Because my next thought was, how was I going to explain this to my crew? Like, I thought they would be like, “You’re crazy. What have you volunteered us for?” or whatever. And I was pleasantly surprised that they were receptive to it, but there was definitely a moment of panic where I was like, “Oh no, now I’ve got to go explain to my crew that I, you know, sort of volunteered that maybe we should do this.” And I didn’t know how they would take it. So I was a little nervous.
AO: Yeah. I was so excited. And I think about that same time I saw some firefighters cleaning up after a fire and I was like, “Stephen’s right! There’s totally something here. There’s totally movement that we aren’t aware of.” Like, “What’s really the full picture of the job of a firefighter?” So what surprised you about the process looking back?
ST: What surprised me was how much we were able to, or you guys were able to incorporate. Not just…you know, I was thinking, well, just the basics. I was thinking like pulling hose, setting ladders, just, you know, the real common things you think, but you realized “Oh, these guys do rope rescue.” So that all got incorporated, but still my favorite part was incorporating Don Murdock and him, you know, painting on the pavement the hand-drawn map of South Austin which he, in his mind, he could just freehand draw on a chalkboard, dry erase board, whatever it was, pretty much all of Austin, south of the river. From memory! And, you know, that was what was surprising to me that you were able to show — now, he was an exceptional case — but you were able to show the dedication that people had when it came to studying their territory and knowing, because, you know, for people like Don, it was critical that he never missed a turn, that he always get to an emergency as quickly as possible. And there was no excuse for not knowing your territory. And so that was a whole aspect that I didn’t ever imagine being highlighted. And I thought it was really neat that it was highlighted. And the coolest part about it to me was that when he first started, you couldn’t tell what he was doing, even though you could hear him, the recording of him calling all the streets, that didn’t register with the audience and him painting on the ground didn’t register with the audience. And then after a minute, you’re like, “Oh, he’s reciting all the streets in this one part of town!” And at the same time, he’s drawing them out. So I thought that was really cool because, you know, no one in the audience really understood what was happening in the beginning. So that was a really cool way to present it, I thought.
AO: Yeah, I loved it. I loved that part. Anything else about the process or reflections, you know, about 20 years, nearly 20 years later? Anything else [now] that all this other stuff’s happened since then?
ST: You know, it just reminds me…when I first got assigned to Station 11 as a rookie — the night you graduate from the academy, you get this envelope and it says where you’re going — I was disappointed because 11s is slow, you know, compared to like 17s or something. But that’s where the opening was. And that’s where I went. And I wasn’t sure what to think about going there, but, you know, through this experience and then through the time that I worked there, I was really lucky to go to that station. It was a good place to be. I love the neighborhood, loved the crew. And I just, I’m thankful that that’s where I ended up to start because it was definitely a unique experience that I would not have benefited from anywhere else. I’ll put it that way.
AO: Well I feel the same. I feel so grateful I got to hang out with y’all and get to see your world. It’s just a great group of people. Well, Stephen, I really appreciate it. Thanks for everything. And, you know, like I said, you started it all. Twenty years of troublemaking!
ST: Well, let me know whatever you need next and whatever else I can do.
AO: I really appreciate it and say hi to anybody that you see that I know and give my love to your family.
ST: Okay. You do the same.
AO: Okay. Take good care.
ST: All right. You too. Bye. Bye.
On the Job: 20 Portraits from 20 Years highlights the work of twenty people who have collaborated and performed with Forklift Danceworks. Featuring new interviews between Forklift choreographers and our collaborators, the series shares the voices and experiences of people whose work sustains our communities.
New portraits will be released each month, so follow us on Facebook and Instagram to meet more Forklift performers throughout the year!
This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.
