Meet Your Firefighters

Meet Jesse Cordova, a firefighter/paramedic in the East Jefferson Fire Rescue service. Jesse recently completed his paramedic training after spending six years as a firefighter/ EMT. When asked why he wanted to take the next step in developing his skills in emergency medical response, he said, “My paramedic coworkers inspired me. I admire what they know and what they can do, and I want to push myself to do more and be pushed outside of my comfort zone.”

He completed the Medic One Paramedic Training given at Harborview in Seattle. The training lasted over a year; he was working with doctors from Harborview and medics from four fire departments. He had an intense year of long hours, drills and calls. He is now able to provide advanced care for cardiac arrests, strokes and traumatic emergencies. This level of readiness doesn’t happen by chance. It comes from hundreds of hours of hands-on training in realistic, high-pressure environments. He is now back on shift with East Jefferson Fire Rescue.

Jesse is originally from north Seattle and has lived in Edmonds and Ballard. He moved to Port Ludlow in 2019 and joined his mother, Mandy Whipple, who relocated to Port Ludlow in 2007. He started volunteering with EJFR as a resident firefighter and was hired in 2021.

Jesse decided to be a firefighter because he thought it would be a great career in public service. The thing he likes best about his job is getting to work with those people who live in the community. The hardest part of the job is facing the unknowns. He says the paramedic training was a grind, but it allowed him some important personal growth.

When asked about anything that people don’t know about you, he replied that he has a minor in fine art and got into oil painting in college. He enjoys gardening, walking the trails and horror movies.