Lets go back to 2003, a year that changed my life forever......
It was May, 2003, I was a Junior in high school. I made the "adult" decision that this would be the last year that I was in high school. I said my last farewells for the end of the school year, telling those I felt like informing that I wouldnt be back, I walked to my truck and left...embarking on this new journey leading to an uncharted territory. The plan was, I would work with my uncle, who bought and sold used auto parts for refurbishing. It was essentially a cake job, I was the manual labor. I would load the parts in the truck when we were out on buys, cutting down on the time at each stop and essentially making for either a shorter work day, or time in the days for more stops. When we took trips to deliver the parts to sell, the job was to ride along, help move the parts around in whatever we put them in for transport, and guard the truck while the driver slept. After all, this was a few thousand dollars of lifestyle. I went anywhere from Waco, Tx to Miami, Fl so I spent alot of weekends on the road. The pay sucked, no doubt about it, but I was working for family and my bills weren't all that much back then. Keep in mind, I was 17.
Being involved in the church youth group with people that I had grown up with for years, I had one friend that was a jr firefighter in the community that we live in. To understand where I'm from....Our larger community is just like any other growing community that you would find outside a city limit. We have a multitude of businesses, schools, restaurants, and so on. The community that I live in is one of three smaller community that lie within the large community we associate ourselves with. It was, back then, mostly woods around some of the original subdivisions and neighborhoods that were built long before I was born. I had known that he was with the community fire department for quite some time, but until this point in life, I had never really been interested in it. I had watched him respond to an accident in the northern community one afternoon and decided to follow him. Red emergency lights, adrenaline, rescue...I was hooked. I wanted to be one of those guys with red emergency lights in my truck, tearing down the streets, responding to accidents and putting house fires out! After quite a few conversations and hours of deliberation, I finally decided to drive up to the station and apply. Walking up to the station on meeting night to turn in my application was one of the most terrifying times of my life. I had no idea who any of these people were and no clue on earth what I was doing, but I was set on trying it.
Jr firefighter life wasnt one that you would brag about too much, at least, not in my department. I cant tell you how many odd and end jobs I did around the station or for the senior firemen. I understand now that it was all about earning respect and trust. In our department, Jr firefighters couldnt do anything firefighting related, it was a liability. So I had to wait my turn, but I was turning 18 in a couple months, I'd be cut loose before long. Wrong!! They actually made me wait another month until January to turn me loose due to the time I had spent as a jr didnt pass the amount of time served by a regular probationary member, oh well. At this point though, they gave me a pager....I thought these things went out in the 90's!!! Now, if you're a firefighter reading this, I'm not talking about the pagers that are pretty much like a miniature radio, I'm talking about a legit 90's pager that only displayed numbers and words. It was like taking a trip back to my childhood. Really?? They allowed me to respond to calls like that though, so I didnt complain.
My very first call was a possible house fire on the very southern end of our area. As soon as that pager went off, I was like a kid opening presents on christmas day. It was on!!! The only problem was, I had no clue where the street was that the call was on...uhhhhhhh. Mapquest to the rescue! Keep in mind, this was 2003, we still had dial up internet (dsl was just becoming popular) so you know how slow that junk was. As soon as I had my location, I was gone! The fire chief had to approve all use of red emergency lights, thanks for busting my bubble dude! So here I am, tearing down one of our main arterys....with my flasher on, lame! It's at this point that I start noticing cars passing me by in the opposite direction that looked awefully familiar, was I too late? YUP! Awesome. As my time went on, one of the fire officers and senior firemen took me under their wing and began to teach me about the trade, something I have never forgot. Woods fires were common around here, and I got skilled on how to fight them quickly.
January 2004 I made full member and was signed up for class. Wait, what? Oh well, rock on! Because of the availability of the guy who kept up with the inventory, I had to wait unitl I was already in class to get all of my equipment, but once I had it, I was a FIREMAN!!
Any firefighter can tell you, the first time you hear a fire tone, not too many sounds will compare. The first night I had my radio, I had no clue what I was doing aside from talking on a cb (which is what country people used before cell phones). I must have sounded completely retarded talking on the radio for the call that came out that night, but it was nothing more than a bonfire...HANDLED!!
My first house fire was probably 3 or 4 weeks after I had started class. FF 1 used to be a 6 week class 2 nights a week and saturdays. Of course, being the rookie, they wouldn't let me in on the hose, but I did get to help out on overhaul and for me, that didnt bother me one bit! I found out the hard way that night that driving a stick shift was not easy wearing bunker gear. I know, I'm a tard.
By the end of February 2004, I was a certified firefighter in Mississippi. I felt like I had finally accomplished something. Early in my adventure, I saw quite a bit of fire. Some of it, I was even thrown into on my own because of the lack of participation when our star people were out of the area. I once responded to a large woods fire by myself and had no clue what to do next. I almost panicked. Thankfully, I knew I had the resources from neighboring departments that I could call on for help and I did just that. Let me paint a picture of my starting path...Our fire station was built in the 70s, only housed 2 trucks, built with cinder blocks, had chipped and faded paint on the eve and sign, was barely big enough to hold the trucks plus some of the tools and storage areas that had to be tucked away in the corner, and was barely big enough for everyone to sit when we had meeting nights. Our roster had probably 15 members on it with only 10, at most, being at the ready to go on a call. Our substation, much bigger, held 6 trucks, 5 of which were newer trucks that ran a whole lot better and were alot nicer looking.
The fire department was the coolest thing I had done in my life and I wanted to get friends in on it, so I recruited as many folks as I could. That didnt work that well since I didnt really have a whole lot of friends and most of them couldnt see doing something like that for free, but I was able to attract a few to the trade. I carried my radio to work with me, I ran every call that I could whether it was in my area or to the areas south of us that protected the smaller portion of our large community, and I developed relationships with the firemen from other departments, which seemed almost meaningless until further on in my "career". To me, these were guys that I knew and could speak to on fire scenes that would trust me enough to work with me on a fire. I was at the station every chance I got, even if I was just there to hang out and wait for a call. This was firefighter life.
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