Newton’s new fire marshal is a familiar face

There’s a tradition at the Newton Fire Department that the person who appears on the front page of the Newton News must buy ice cream for the whole station. With Jacob Halferty on board as the new fire marshal — which is essentially the face of the fire department — he better get used to buying ice cream.

The 29-year-old has been chosen as the new public arm of the fire station, giving commercial business owners, elementary kids and elderly individuals a friendly and familiar face. For the past seven years, Jacob has served Newton as a firefighter and paramedic, initially starting as a part-timer with EMT certification.

By 2018, Jacob had obtained his paramedic certifications and was brought on to work full time. Prior to joining the Newton fire station, he worked as a junior firefighter in Mingo, which is where his father, Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty, has also volunteered for some time.

Keeping in line with his passion for service, Jacob also serves as a reserve deputy paramedic on Jasper County’s EMS enhancement/advanced life support program, which supplements first responder teams in smaller communities who may not be able to always respond to paramedic-level calls.

Jacob’s passion for public safety grew over time after his early years on the Mingo Fire Department. Although selfless service runs in the family, being a firefighter was not his dream job at 18 years old. Still, he got his EMT certification to help out the volunteer squad, but he didn’t expect training to go much further.

“Through my years with the volunteer service, I just kept getting this itch,” Jacob said. “I wanted to go farther and farther and farther.”

At one point he even felt like law enforcement was the path he wanted to take, but some issues with joints complicated physical training tests. But by then he was already falling in love with the EMT/paramedic side of public safety. Enrolling in paramedic school in 2017 only sealed the deal.

After a brief stint in Oskaloosa, a full-time job in Newton became available and he has been serving the community ever since. When he saw the fire marshal position open up, he saw it as an opportunity to participate in a high-level interview. Of course, now that he’s got the job he has a whole lot of work to do.

Newton has been without a fire marshal since 2019. Fire marshal duties were split between the fire chief and assistant fire chief, along with some of the services being contracted out. Although the city council is still deciding on direction for commercial inspections, Jacob will eventually take over.

Currently, Jacob is conducting commercial inspections for businesses with liquor licenses in Newton.

October is also Fire Prevention Month, and for the fire marshal that means public education. Traditionally, the fire marshal has traveled to the local school buildings to teach fire safety to third-graders with a special tool called the SAFE House, a traveling tiny house that simulates what it feels like to be in a room full of smoke.

Video presentations viewed inside the home instruct kids how to safely exit their homes in the event of a fire, as well as what to do after they have escaped. Jacob said he also has presentations for kindergarteners, first-graders and second-graders, as well as home school groups.

For Jacob, the public education side was one of the more exciting aspects of the job that he has looked forward to.

“I want to get some more consistency with the public education. I’m hoping throughout my time I can have some more prepared presentations,” Jacob said, noting that public education extends beyond younger demographics. “I hope to expand on the senior safety side of it. One of our highest call volumes is falls.”

Prevention efforts and community risk reduction are also areas Jacob is eager to implement in Newton. He also wants to expand dormant programs like installing or updating fire alarms in the community. Jacob will also be serving as the public information officer and will be another point of contact for media.

Eventually, he will also be in charge of investigating fires in the community. His law enforcement experience working as a reserve deputy will certainly come in handy when managing those investigations, in addition to potentially writing tickets for illegal burns or deescalating any frustrations with business owners.

Working with people is all part of the job, whether it be good or bad.

“I’m pretty much going to be the face of the fire department for the most part,” he said. “I’ll be the public information officer. They’re going to contact me if they want some sort of class. They’re going to be mad at me if they’re not happy with an inspection I did or I had to write them a citation for an illegal burn.”

Acknowledging that inspections have caused some discourse over the past year, Jacob is adamant about making it a more positive experience for all involved. Bringing the inspections back in-house certainly helps, and it allows him to start developing relationships with the community businesses.

“A lot of people said they want to have a local person at the fire department making these choices when it comes to the inspections,” he said. “That’s me.”

Apart from feeling a little added pressure, Jacob is unfazed and ready to take on the new role and get more involved in the community. Being born and raised in Jasper County is also a big benefit. Coupled with his years at Newton Fire Department, Jacob is familiar with a lot of people in and around town.

He will now be a leader in the fire station, too. Between watching Wellik be a leader and his dad be a leader, Jacob is setting high standards for himself.

“I’m going to lead from the front, being visible on the line for the most part. If I expect my guys to keep up on something, I better keep up on it, too.”