Why Crozet is a long-running feature examining the many reasons people love Crozet. It’s not uncommon to find people who grew up here, left for a while, and later came back to the community. This month, we talked to a Crozet native who found a job nearby, returned with his young family after several years away, and joined the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department.
In the last 12 months, Cody Pillow has crammed enough into his life to fill several ordinary years. He’s taken a new job, moved into a new house, and successfully trained to be a firefighter with the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department. This was all done with a new baby: Cody and his wife, Madeline, have an 18-month-old son. He’s also recently started teaching high-intensity training (HIT) classes at The Basement in Piedmont Place.
Not everything is new. Pillow grew up in Batesville and has plenty of family members nearby. College—he went to Virginia Military Institute—took him away, and so did his first job. He taught history at a boarding school in Hagerstown for several years before moving back home for a job teaching sixth through eighth graders at the Field School. He found Crozet greatly changed. “There wasn’t all this growth when I left,” he remembered. “Harris Teeter wasn’t even here yet.”
Volunteer Firefighter Cody Pillow explains the entanglement box built by his Field School students for firefighter training. Photo: Malcolm Andrews.But many of the good things about the life here remained, including the dedication of the area’s emergency services volunteers. “I’d been interested in firefighting for a while,” he said. “I love learning new skills and figuring out how to manage tough situations.” Seeing the ongoing need for new recruits, he began training last August. He enjoyed the challenges as well as the camaraderie, he said. “I was lucky in that five people from Crozet were in my training class. We all became very close.”
The physical demands were intense, he said, but the hardest part for him was finding the time to complete the training every Saturday for five months. Both the course work and the hands-on training were interesting, and a couple of the subjects were familiar. He’d already had sporadic training in ropes and general leadership, and found it fascinating to learn subjects like the science of fires, quick entry to a burning house, and stabilizing vehicles at a crash scene.
He noticed that his students were interested in his volunteer work. A couple of them targeted firefighting training when they chose their eighth-grade projects. “They came up with some devices that could be used in training,” he said. One student built a simulated confinement box, complete with dangling wires; another a simulated roof. After several years’ experience with the needs of children in middle school, Pillow has learned how to help that age group in their struggles with focus, and really appreciates the active learning model at the Field School.
Cody and Madeline Pillow with 16-month-old Auden. Submitted.Responding to car accidents is by far the biggest demand for firefighters in Albemarle County, Pillow said. “We have the largest area of responsibility in western Albemarle.” The Crozet crew monitors 16 miles of I-64 as well as a large stretch of the County, with Owensville Road, White Hall, Batesville and Afton as the boundaries. They work in conjunction with Western Albemarle Rescue Squad in their crash response, and make sure the vehicle can be safely entered without danger to the people inside or the medical staff. Crozet firefighters also collaborate with several state agencies in containing brush fires.
Despite the time crunch created by his volunteer job, Pillow has found his work very satisfying, including the ability to keep learning. “Once you’ve completed the necessary training, learning doesn’t stop. You can take all kinds of additional courses, an infinite number of classes.” Another advantage that he said is particular to Crozet: “There’s a real training culture here, and it’s not all one way. Whenever we have a suggestion, we feel we’re actually heard. It doesn’t all fall on deaf ears. We are very well supported.”
Thomas Echols, a volunteer firefighter who also serves as the coordinator of recruitment and retention, said that anyone interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter can schedule a ride-along with one of the department’s duty crews.
“We also accept volunteers for our auxiliary team, which helps with administrative support such as marketing, IT, fundraising, events, and data entry,” Echols said. People interested in learning more about volunteering can attend an interest meeting held every other month or email crozetfirerecruiting@gmail.com.
Chief Gary Dillon, left, and Lt. Lucas Knight, right, present the black helmet and official shield to Pillow, signifying his completion of initial training. Submitted photo.
