The Two-Thirds
Chris Elrod
Friday June 10, 2022
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
The Two-Thirds is designed for firefighters and their spouse to attend along with chief officers of departments. Taught by Chris and Renee Elrod, who have spent their entire marriage in public service, they have learned through personal experience the challenges that the fire service puts on the home-life. The course will look at the importance of investing in firefighter’s time away from the fire station (two-thirds) and ways departments can contribute to a healthier home-life. This will aid in retention and future generational recruitment. Couples will be able to recognize that they are not alone with their struggles. One of the goals will be finding ways to turn the difficulty that fire service puts on families into opportunities to grow and strengthen their marriage. Another goal from this course is to enable couples to take ideas back to their home departments and incorporate investing into fire families outside of work. Stronger and more stable fire family units will ultimately result in a better firefighter at work.
Chris Elrod
Chris and Renee Elrod have been serving in fire, EMS, or law enforcement since they were each 18 years old. Combined they have been public servants for over 45 years but only the past several years have they started seeing the importance of investing more into family instead of careers. They have built their family around a “shift schedule” and done most family decision making in parking lots. They have been married for 16 years and have experienced many bumps along the marriage road. Their goals are centered around serving others, sharing both good and bad experiences, and hope that others can learn from their broken road. They have 3 boys, reside in Pickens, SC, and are active in their church. Currently, Chris is the Fire Chief at the City of Pickens Fire Department and Renee enjoys cooking and serving others. Renee is also finishing up her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
