Duane Hughes set the overburdened keychain down on the wooden conference table.

Since becoming Columbus Fire and Rescue’s chief of training in 2011, Hughes has been collecting keys. Now, the hefty lanyard he carries has roughly 20, each with its own purpose — to operate vehicles, open fire department structures, access city buildings and more.

To Hughes, counting the keys is often “disheartening.” There’s just too many.

“Sometimes I’ll have given them away, and I think the key fairy comes back and sneaks some back on these rings,” Hughes said.

Currently CFR’s assistant chief, a position he’s held since 2016, Hughes will assume leadership of the department on an interim basis when Chief Martin Andrews retires a week from today. Hughes has plenty of goals as interim chief, but one towers above the rest: Pass out his many keys — for good.

“It’s crucial that we get people in his department ready to step up,” Hughes said. “My goal is within two years, the only keys I want to have on that key ring are the key that opens the office door and the vehicle key.”

Of course, that’s easier said than done, and Hughes knows it. Having worked for CFR since October 1995 and spending time in practically every position the department has to offer, he has the experience to rival anyone else.

Hughes thinks that will come in handy. He said his “full intent” is to become the department’s permanent chief, planning to submit his application once the city advertises for the position.

But getting the job will be about more than Hughes’ nearly three decades of service.

“In a perfect world, I could probably stand up and say my going on 27 years should speak for themselves — the things that I and my friends here in the department have accomplished together,” Hughes said. “But we’re not in that world, and not everybody knows me.”

So who is Hughes, exactly?

CFR’s incoming interim chief is a voracious reader. He loves working on cars, particularly Mustangs. He enjoys — or tolerates — 4 a.m. jogs at Baptist Memorial Hospital–Golden Triangle with WCBI videographer Ronny Smith “and five or six deers.”

All those passions, of course, are dependent on time. Hughes makes no secret: The department takes up a lot of his.

“With this job, it’s 24 hours,” he said.

For a single parent of two children, that wasn’t always easy. Hughes was honest with his sons DJ and Daylun about his time commitment to his job, but he “wasn’t always there.” He tried to make up for it whenever possible.

He attended DJ’s basketball games at New Hope High School. He signed up to be a Boy Scout troop leader when Daylun wanted to join the ranks.

“There were many times where I would make sure I was there,” Hughes said.

One call at a time
Hughes remembered his first day as an engineer, in charge of driving the fire truck, back in 2001.

Straight-line winds had ripped their way through Columbus. Hughes and his fire captain — also on his first day in that position — took stock of the damage: felled traffic lights, smashed street markers and streets obstructed by trees.

The “tones” — calls for assistance — began to sound nonstop. There were burst gas mains, downed power lines, people trapped under debris. Hughes looked at his captain, who looked back at the newly minted engineer.

“Look, we’re just going to take them one call at a time,” the captain said.

In a top-down organization like CFR, Hughes’ career has progressed — like many others’ — in the same way: one step at a time.

In 2006, he became a captain. Five years later, he became chief of training. In June 2016, he was named assistant chief.

“And here we are about five years and nine months later,” Hughes said. “Everything is cyclical. For me, it’s fallen into five-year increments.”

But Hughes has been training for the role he is about to assume for a long time. CFR constantly works on succession training — “preparing the next person for the next position” — and Hughes said his preparation for becoming chief started in 2011, when he took over the chief of training position.

“I was always told the day you become that position is before you get it,” Hughes said.

All hazards department
Hughes said the department he entered when he was just 25 years old has changed plenty over time. When he arrived, the “old guard” — firefighters hired in the 1970s and 1980s — cared little for transparency and silenced newer voices.

“If you hadn’t been here five years, you weren’t allowed an opinion,” Hughes said.

By the end of the 20th century, those set in their ways began to retire. Hughes prided the current department on its inclusivity, including increased accessibility to media — a marked change from the old regime — and “teams established to meet specific goals that are open to anyone in the department.

“You can be a scalar organization and still be inclusive,” Hughes said. “You don’t have to be here five years before your opinion matters.”

There are other goals Hughes has strived to reach at CFR, which is unique in being what Hughes called an “all hazards department” — responding to hazardous materials; performing confined-space, rope and trench rescues; and more.

But budget cuts have made it hard for the department to secure that specialized training for its firefighters in several key areas, including hazmat and structural response.

“That’s one of the things that will be a key mission to me in becoming the chief: making sure that we can get these individuals back to the training they need so they can safely do the job they’re required to do.”

It’s just one of the many responsibilities Hughes will have in his new position. He already has plenty.

But maybe it’ll just be another key Columbus Fire and Rescue’s next interim chief will be able to give away.

“Over the years, I’ve learned that you can’t do it all yourself,” Hughes said.

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.

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