Celeste Baldino

After taking some time to find her niche, Celeste Anne Smelser Baldino has had a successful career. She attended Virginia Tech University and studied chemistry for two years before leaving school and returning home. She got a job at UPS and while working there saw an ad for public safety that caught her attention. Baldino began her career in 2000 as a communications officer in Roanoke County, Va., where every day was different.

“It wasn’t mundane. I enjoyed getting up and going to work every day. This was something I liked to do,” she says.

Baldino hails from a family devoted to fire and EMS. Her grandfather was a fire chief, her father served as the captain of a rescue squad and assistant chief of the Blue Ridge Fire Department in Botetourt County, Va., and her mother was the first female firefighter in Botetourt.

Since July 2007, she has served as a public safety communications supervisor with the Charlottesville-UVA-Albemarle County Emergency Communication Center (ECC) in Charlottesville, Va.

Since her arrival in Charlottesville, Celeste has dispatched for three different police departments, four rescue squads and nine fire departments. When she became a supervisor, she became a “working” supervisor who rotates through all the posts. “We do everything,” she says. From calltaking to training with fire/rescue and/or police and then cross training, it takes over a year to become fully trained.

As a supervisor, she faces numerous challenges. “I like being challenged. I like staying busy.” One of her main challenges is, “Getting people to buy into change and not being negative about it and dealing with different personalities on shifts.”

Baldino always takes responsibility for her decisions as a supervisor. “I’m a perfectionist,” she says. She wants to make quick decisions and back them up to the best of her ability. Known for her memory, she says that her boss has told her she has a sponge for a brain because she absorbs everything.

What Baldino enjoys most about her job is the range of experiences that every day brings. “I like being in public safety. When people call 9-1-1, it’s the worst time of their life,” she says, and being in public safety provides her with the opportunity to help.

What she likes the least is when people on the phone yell at her.

The scariest thing for her is when an officer is not responding on the radio. “Some officers don’t realize how important they are to dispatchers. It is a big deal to us,” she says.

In addition to her supervisory role, Celeste serves as a volunteer firefighter every other Monday night, and she runs calls from home. She has served as a volunteer firefighter for the Crozet Fire Department since 1993. “I’ve always loved fighting fires. I thought it was cool running into buildings when everyone else was running out,” she says.

Not only did she grow up in a firefighting family, but Baldino married a professional firefighter who serves in the Charlottesville Fire Department. Married five years, they have no children but have two dogs and three cats.

When she’s not working, Baldino enjoys outdoor activities. Her hobbies include camping, hiking, enjoying the beach, movie night at home and listening to books on tape. She socializes with friends who are mostly associated with the volunteer fire department and employed in public safety; however, they try not to make work their sole conversation.

Baldino has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2006 ECC Team Excellence Award, the 2006 and 2008 ECC Class Act Awards, the 2006 John W. Britt Community Service Award presented by The National Liquor Law Enforcement Association, the 2009 reward from her Operations Coordinator for creating a new Fire Run Card Book, and the 2010 ECC Michael T. Carroll Award. Additionally, she was the winner of the 2010 Virginia Line Supervisor of the Year Award for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Baldino’s parents are very proud of her—and with good reason.  In more ways than one, Celeste serves as a true inspiration and proves that one can not only beat the odds but can overcome the various challenges that life presents.

About the Author
Karen L. Bune serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and Marymount University in Virginia, and is a consultant for the Training and Technical Assistance Center for the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. She is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on public safety issues. Bune is Board Certified in Traumatic Stress and Domestic Violence, and she is a Fellow of The Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the National Center for Crisis Management.