AJ Greenlee Retires From Madison Fire Department

AJ Greenlee retired from the Madison Fire Department this month, celebrating a career shaped by a love of EMS and influencing the next generation of EMTs and paramedics. 

Greenlee began his career in the fire and emergency medical services in 1995, serving as an EMT with the Town of Beloit. He went on to acquire a paramedic license from the state of Illinois and served in the city of Rockford before accepting a career opportunity with the Madison Fire Department in 1998. 

Upon graduating the MFD Recruit Academy, Greenlee was assigned to Station 2 on the west side as a firefighter/EMT. A year and a half later, he was tapped to pursue paramedicine once again, this time under the direction of the Madison Fire Department with a Wisconsin paramedic license in hand. 

For Greenlee, the personal impact of the work is what mattered most.

“Some of the cardiac arrest patients we saved and were able to meet after they were discharged from the hospital really stick with you,” said Greenlee. “It really shows that the hard work paid off for that person, where they can now see their family for another day just because of the efforts of everybody on scene.”

Over the course of his career, Greenlee served throughout the city from Fire Stations 6, 8, 1, 10, and 11 as a Paramedic, Paramedic 2, Apparatus Engineer, and Lieutenant. He also instructed three recruit academy classes as a member of the Fire Training Division. 

Greenlee enjoyed the southside territory of Station 6 for the variety of calls there, as well as the different ways the station gave back to the community. As lieutenant, he was assigned to Station 10 on the northside, an area he loved just as much for the way the neighborhood embraced the firefighters there, as well as the impact the crew made outside of the calls for service.

“We had a lot of youth that were sometimes in troubled situations and would come to the fire station to get away from stuff,” said Greenlee. “You get to sit down with them at the kitchen table and talk to them, give them some guidance and help. These are the things the community doesn’t really see or know we’re doing behind the scenes. It’s very rewarding.” 

Greenlee closed out his career on January 5 as the captain of the EMS Training Division, a team of six people serving as the central hub for supplying frontline medications and EMS equipment, as well as administering the continued education and licensure of all Madison Fire EMTs and Paramedics. The division’s work is critical to ensuring the department provides exceptional emergency medical service 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

“Working in the EMS Division really opened my eyes to a different side of the department and gave me a different perspective on this career,” he said. “I think it’s truly one of the busiest divisions in the department.”

The focus of EMS Division, Greenlee described, is to serve the members of the fire department—a shift from the usual focus of serving the community. 

“It gave me great joy to work to ensure the licensure of everybody on the department and make sure they had all their needs met with supplies, logistics, and keeping them up and running,” he said.

Greenlee’s time in the division began in January 2020, just weeks before Covid-19 took hold in Dane County. The pandemic tested the ingenuity of the team. 

“That was really difficult with supply chain challenges and maintaining a high level of service, even with the interruptions,” he remembers. “It changed our mindset on how we ordered and stored our supplies.” 

From training his peers as a Paramedic 2 to coordinating the activities of the EMS Training Division as a Captain, paramedic education has been a recurring theme throughout Greenlee’s career. It’s fitting, then, that he’s chosen to continue teaching paramedics in retirement, in a hospital system setting.

“I guess I’m blessed because I’m leaving a career that provided and offered so much, to another career that’s going to continue on that legacy,” he said. “Not many people get that opportunity.”