When I was little, there was a tragic fire not far from my house. It had a profound effect on me, and I reportedly vowed to not let something like that happen again. The first week of college I signed up for the rescue squad, mostly on a limb, the childhood vow long forgotten. When I returned for summer break, I joined the fire department to keep my skills up when school was out. For 19 years I’ve volunteered, responding to thousands of calls in the community.
The fire service is an amazing experience. There are easy calls, there are hard calls. There are calls that are very rewarding, and there are calls that rip your heart out. There are calls that go smoothly and calls you feel were a disaster. I’ve been on all of them. That is only part of the experience. The other experience is that of brotherhood that exists fire service. Not only are we there for the community, we are there for each other. After a bad call, or when you need to fix something at home, you can count on the members of the department to be there.
Like many activities with which I’ve been involved, I find my way in to leadership. I’ve been an officer for 14 years. I started as a Lieutenant, and worked my way up the ranks to Asst. Chief. A few months ago, I made the difficult decision to take a break from being an officer. It’s bittersweet. There will be less work, and more time to explore interests that have been on the back burner too long. I’ll be riding in back of the cab going to calls, reporting to the young guys who are in the boots I was years ago.
The last days in office were busy, with many calls. The photo below is from Christmas Day, to my left is the Chief of the department, Chris Nobes. Chris joined the department a few years after I did, and we’ve been officers together for many years. Then next call I go on, we won’t be standing side by side like this, but we’ll be working towards the same goal none the less. Most importantly, we’ll always have each other’s backs.
At a working fire, 12/25/2018. The fire started in the basement, and the home owners lost a large collection that represented years of work. Luckily, their fire alarm alerted the alarm monitoring service, and we were able to contain the fire to the basement. Photo used with permission of Sidewinder Photography.
I am looking forward to the coming year, new adventures in photography, and at the railroad museum. I’ll still be going on calls, and looking forward to being an advisor to our new program. Training the next generation of firefighters, we have begun accepting 16 and 17 year olds to our brand new Junior Firefighter program. Some of whom will be 2nd or 3rd generation firefighters. Even with new adventures, some traditions continue.