Barry Hickerson has more than four decades of experience as a paramedic and worked as an EMS chief for 12 years for Farmington Fire in San Joaquin County. That is, until a few weeks ago, when he tendered his resignation after seeing his Battalion Chief Conni Bailey and Assistant Chief John Kalebaugh also resign.
Hickerson worked closely with both of them and said he talked to Bailey on Wednesday. Bailey’s been with the department for 34 years, and Kalebaugh for 25 years.
“It was tragic to see what happened to them,” Hickerson said. “I mean, the chief should’ve left with a retirement party, not being kicked to the curb. When you do that, when you have a small community like that and these people are connected and have been there for two or three decades, when you see that happen to one or two of them, the other ones are affected gravely.”…