Ultimate Sacrifice.

One of the hardest things I have evr done as a firefighter was go to a firefighters funeral. I have been to many, some died because of natural cause and others were killed in the line of duty. On 9/11 I lost 343 brothers when the towers collapsed in New York. I would like to dedicate this post to them with the Firemans Prayer.

When I am called to duty, God
Whenever flames may rage
Give me strength to save some life
Whatever be its age

Help me embrace a little child
Before it is too late
Or save an older person
From the horrors off that fate

Enable me to be alert
And hear the weakest shout
and quickly and efficiently
put the fire out

I want to fill my calling
And to give the best in me
To guard my every neighbor
And protect their property

And if according to my fate
I am tolose my life
Please protect with Your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

I don't know who wrote this but I think this fits for this post. If any of you want to see something that you will remember Please attend the Firemans Memorial Festival in Roscommon the third week end in September.

God created all equal, Only the finest become Firefighters

What is every little kids dream? They either want to be a fireman, soldier, policeman, astronaunt or a ambulance driver. Well I got to live some of my dream. I got to serve in the military where I have worked as a fireman/medic, military police officer, worked on tanks, and also worked with explosive ordanice. I have been all over the US and also been to Germany, England, Bosnia, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait. I think the best part of my career was in 1996 having the priviledge of spending 90 days down in Atlanta Goergia at the 96 Summer Oylimpics providing security for the athletes. The military started me in my career as a firefighter by training me in that field. Went to school for that in Chanute AFB. Ill. in the early 80's and then started to take more courses in firefighting through the State of Mich. Also have been trained to work in the EMS field.
The earlist recolection of the fire service and I think that really got me interested in that field was my dad was a firefighter with the same deepartment that I am on now. I can remember at 3 in the morning the fire siren going off and waking up the whole house. The sirren was located behind our house on top of the chiefs bait shop. I can remember my dad running out the door and not getting back home for many hours. I wanted to be like my dad. I wanted to save lives and pull people from burning houses. I was proud of my dad.
I can remember my dad talking some about different calls he went on and what happened. That made me more interested in the job. I just wish dad was alive now to see me live my dream. Everytime I go out on a call I think to myself, "What would dad do? How would he handle this call?" I know that when my pager goes off that my parents are watching over me to keep me safe.
The one call that I remember very well that dad went on was when a Douglas Skyraider crashed not to far from the house we lived in. He went down there and helped pick up peices to that plane for most of thee day. The pilot was killed on impact and dad didn't talk to much about that call. The pilot just came home from Vietnam and recieved permission to fly his plane home to show his parents.
Even with all of the death and destruction we deal with, when the pager goes off I'm off to the call. I am proud of my dad for getting my interest in this job in me at a young age. I just hope he's as proud of me as I was of him for what he was doing.

If you can't stand the heat, become a cop.

What draws me to do this job? That is a good question that I doubt I could even begin to answer. My earlist experience with the fire service was when I was growing up. My dad was a Captain on the dept. that I am a member of. To this day I carry his badge with me everywhere I go. I guess you could say, "It's in the blood." I can remember before they had pagers, the fire siren going off at 3 in the morning and my dad would rush out of the house. He would never talk about what he saw to us kids. I just remember that he had a red light and siren on the car. I guess you could say I am following in my dad's footsteps. I can remember when I was in school (the school was across the street from the fire station) and hear the siren go off, and would look out the window to see my dad pulling out with one of the truck sirens wailing and light going. Watching that made me proud of my dad for what he was doing. I wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps and decided to become a firefighter myself. I had a tremendous amount of respect and pride of my father growing up and a lot of that came from his profession.
The job does take it's toll on you. You work all day and can be out on a fire call all night, to turn around and go to work when you get home. The risks we take are many. Just like the fire the other night. I found out what was in the building after we had the fire put out and it scared the @#$! out of me. But we go to training all the time and always try to look out for each other. I know my girl friend is scared when I go on a call in the middle of the night or any time of the day for that matter. I know with my training, I am going to be as careful as I can, but the risks are there. Even with all of the hazards that come with this job, the pride that comes with it will always keep me going.
yeah the job does take a toll on a person. Not only physical problems, but mental problems as well. We miss special occassions or events with our families, Miss out on having dinner with our loved ones, not able to take place in kids sporting events. All kinds of things like that. Firefighters have a very high divorce rate for a proffession. They also have a high rate of both physical and mental problems. We can leave the house in one piece and come home busted up. They say that heart and lung problems are the biggest issues that we face. I know about the physical problems. I am having shoulder surgery next month because of a injury that I incurred on afire scene. We go sometimes with little or no sleep for a day or so.
Somebody asked me why am I a firefighter. Being able to help my community doing a job that not everybody wants to do. My dad spent 20 + years as a firefighter on the dept. I am on.

I walk where the devil dances

Sun. night while doing homework, my pager goes off. "Leelanau Co. to Elmwood Fire, You have the report of a structure fire at 10243 CherryBend Road with smoke showing. Time out 1830 hours." Oh my god, I thought it is my fire chiefs business and the building where my mom had her office. As I am driving to the station I am thinking about what lays ahead of us. What is involved? Any exposures? Any hazards? Anybody in the building? Closest water supply? Hydrant or natural water source? All sorts of things going through my mind.

While I was responding I was paying attention to what other traffic was doing, all the while thinking about the questions I thought about. The adrenalin was making my heart go a hundred miles an hour. A working structure fire. After checking in route II heard other members also checking in, I knew it was serious. Pulling into the station I saw one of the guys going into the station and layed on my horn to let him know to keep the door open.

Upon arriving on scene I saw smoke coming out of the north end of the building and that confirmed my worst fears. After getting my air pack on and rounding the front of the truck I saw the flames. Scared as all get out. I knew what was in that part of the building. Oxygen tanks, flammable materials, and other stuff that he used in his business. After we got the fire knocked down did it hit me. And to top it all off I didn't get to go after my groceries.

When I did get home, got cleaned up and made something to eat. And then try and get some sleeep so I can drive across state for a doctor's appt. I don't think I really got to sleep much before 3 in the morning. And people wonder why I look tired half the time. The job does take a toll on a person. All of this excitment plus hold down a regular job and go to school full time.

stress relief

There are lots of different ways to relieve the stress that we face when we have to deal with the death and destruction related to the job we do as firefighter/medics. When we have a real bad call, we usually have a debrief right when we get back to station. People deal with stress differently. It could be going for a walk along the beach, watching a favorite show on television, or enjoying a hobby. What really helps me to deal with stress relief is my favorite hobby. I build model cars; whether they are street rods, muscle cars, NASCAR, or drag cars. I also have one of the best listeners that doesn't talk back, just sits there and listens and looks at me as if she is saying, "It's OK to cry, I don't mind." It's my dog Abbie. She knows for some ungodly reason when I need somebody to listen.

When we do have to deal with a sudden death or destruction we all watch each other for different signs of stress. They do have counselors available through mental health clinics to help us deal with what we just had to go through. Yes, I have had to deal with death, whether it is natural caused or sudden trauma or illness.

I am lucky to have a girlfriend that knows how stressful this job can be. She is a fromer firefighter/medic from the Dayton, Ohio area. She has seen a lot of the same needless death and detsruction I have. She knows when I want a human to talk to or she knows when to leave me alone. That is a big help in itself in dealing with what we have witnessed.

Connected to the Pager

There are times when it can be exciting to do this job. Yes, we do have a life other than firefighting. I love to hunt and fish, ride snowmobiles, dirt bikes, and I do work another job besides being a firefighter/medic. I carry a pager with me 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. I have been inside of burning buildings which could have taken my life. And all of this for a little more than $8 a hr. Not much for risking your life.


I have missed out on family gatherings, birthdays, special dinners with my girlfriend amongst other things when the pager goes off. It has a habit of going off when you least expeect it to. Especially at 3 in the morning when you have a 9 am class.



The one fire that I remember most was when Orchard Creek AFC home burned to the ground. The fire started about 2 in the afternoon right at shift change at the home, which turned out to be a blessing. I was downtown eating at a restaurant when the pager went off. My girlfriend asked what it was and I replied "Oh it's probably a medical run." discpatch informed us that we had a fully involved building with people in it. Luckily they had both day and afternoon shifts on at the home and they got everybody out by the time we had arrived with trucks. I could see the smoke from downtown and knew that we had a working fire. The stress of not knowing whether or not everybody was out of the building was extremely high at that point. Our station is located less than half a mile from the home.

As far as medical runs go, the ones that bother me most are ones that involve children. I don't know why. I guess that it's that I feel they shouldn't have to have to suffer needlessly. I have seen where a child was sick and have seen where they have been severly injuried. Why does that have to happen to that little one I ask? I don't have a answer for that. I have attended Incedent debriefs when little ones have been involved. That is almost a standard for most Depts. in this area.

I guess that I do this job for the love of helping my fellow citizens. Alot of people say that we are crazy for doing what we do. We run into a burning building when most people are running to get out of them. And we don't get alot of money for doing it. Does that make us crazy?

Education In Fire Service

Another aspect of firefighting is the countless hours that we as firefighters put into training. We have to go through fire school which consits of approximately 240 hours of both class room and practical training. This does not count the hours that are required for hazardous material, vehicle extrication, pump operations, emergency vehicle operation and any other specialized training that comes along.
We also have endless hours of training at station level to keep us proficient in our skills. All of this is just for us to meet state requirements.
There are colleges that offer courses that will take our education level higher. One of these Colleges is Lake Supirior State University in Saulte Saint Marie Michigan. They offer a Bachelor's degree in fire science which would include all of the state minimum requirements and expand our education to include things like fire inspections, arson investigation, building construction, and other classes. There are also classes offered in tactical operations and managing fire manpower on the fire grounds.
With the aftermath of 9/11 and the start of Homeland Security, there are also NIMS (National Incident Management System) which we have to take in order to meet state requirements. The National Fire Academy in Maryland also offers classes that we can take online to further our education. And this is just the begining of your education for the fire service.
If you decide to start going on medical calls you have to at least have Medical First Responder training. Then you have EMT Basic, Specialist and then Paramedic. First Responder is approxitmatly 120 hours of both class and pratical instruction. EMT is approxitmately 6 months long. The same for EMT specialist. And Paramedic is a two year comitment to schooling. And then you have to do continuing education to keep your liscencure current.
They wonder why alot of us leave the fire service for these reasons.