Full Transcript for How Do You Know When It’s Time to Leave the Fire Service? | 25 Years as a Firefighter - Lt. Rick Carroll

I was 23 years old. 00:02:47.299 --> 00:03:12.819 And uh when uh earlier than that, we had lived in uh when I was small, I guess I we moved from Rockmart and uh I was in the third grade, but uh it was always a big deal hear that fire truck leaving down at the old city hall, and uh me and the kids in the neighborhood run out and watch the fire truck or whatever. 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:18.259 And uh there'd always been a place in the back of my mind that I'd like to do that. 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:35.859 And uh when uh I'd been in commercial construction for a while after I first got married in 1971, and 1973 with uh the economy and all, it was it was hard to find a job. 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:43.859 So then President Jimmy Carter started a program called CEDA, C E T A Comprehensive Employment Training Act. 00:03:44.500 --> 00:03:59.620 And uh with that a lot of public service jobs came up and uh I'd had application in with uh Cobb County for a while and one day out of the out of the blue I got a call from Chief Hilton. 00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:04.419 He said, Hey, he said, uh you still want to be a firefighter. 00:04:04.579 --> 00:04:06.340 I said, I sure would. 00:04:06.819 --> 00:04:18.340 He said, you know when the comedy picks back up we we we do a lot of training, get you prepared for it, but you're not gonna just jump out and go back to construction. 00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:22.340 I said, if I can get on the fire department, I'll say goodbye to construction. 00:04:22.980 --> 00:04:25.460 Because it'd been so up and down that time. 00:04:25.620 --> 00:04:34.740 And uh so he said, Well, can you be at my office tomorrow four o'clock uh tomorrow before four o'clock? 00:04:34.900 --> 00:04:37.060 I said, Why couldn't I come down there today? 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:41.620 And he said, Well, he said, it's getting pretty close to four o'clock now. 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:48.019 He said, After four o'clock, he said, if the county's burning down, I'm at home unless they really need me. 00:04:48.100 --> 00:04:48.579 Yeah. 00:04:48.819 --> 00:04:50.740 I said, I can be there before four o'clock. 00:04:50.899 --> 00:04:51.620 He said, Well, come on. 00:04:51.779 --> 00:04:52.659 So I did. 00:04:53.219 --> 00:04:54.420 And the rest was history. 00:04:54.500 --> 00:05:04.420 I filled out the paperwork and uh I started that next Sunday, station eighteen on B shift on uh Mars Hill Road. 00:05:04.659 --> 00:05:04.819 Okay. 00:05:05.459 --> 00:05:06.980 And it was country back then. 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:15.699 But um it rocked on and did a lot of interesting calls and the training you got then was uh on the job. 00:05:15.939 --> 00:05:18.100 Yeah there wasn't no such thing as recruit school. 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:24.500 So uh he rode the tailboard back then, which was adventure in itself. 00:05:24.899 --> 00:05:25.779 I bet it was. 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:34.980 So uh it rocked on from January the twelfth till May. 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:57.939 Sometime around the middle of May on the Wednesday night, he called me at home and we'd already heard rumors that uh uh you had to be unemployed so many days, drawing unemployment, you had to be have a diploma or equivalency, and uh you had to live in a certain census district of Hobb County, which I didn't. 00:05:58.659 --> 00:06:01.860 And he said, Well, do you know any friends that you could give their address? 00:06:02.259 --> 00:06:05.379 I said, Yeah, I'm my best friend lives off of Pat Mill Road. 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:07.860 And I said, We stay there a bunch. 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:10.899 And he said, That's one of the census districts. 00:06:11.139 --> 00:06:15.699 He said, You come in, fill out the paperwork, we'll take care of it. 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:16.659 So I did. 00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:26.180 Well, come May, something we'd heard rumors that people were getting fired for not having a not drawing an unemployment long enough and not living in the county, whatever. 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:28.339 And I thought, Well, I'm I'm good. 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:32.500 Well, he called me that Wednesday night and said, pal, I got some bad news. 00:06:33.060 --> 00:06:45.060 He said the seat inspector's been in here and he said, Me and Miss Nancy, who was his secretary, they found both applications and they checked at the post office that you're still getting your mail at in Dallas. 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:50.659 And you know, man, my I i it was like getting kicked in the stomach. 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:51.139 I'm sure. 00:06:51.459 --> 00:06:51.939 I'm telling you. 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:59.779 Because I went from a pretty secure job and one that I really loved to uh being unemployed again. 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:06.579 So then I went to work for CSX Railroad a year later, two years later. 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:12.980 And uh it was a great job, except they hire you one day and try to fire you the next. 00:07:13.219 --> 00:07:15.379 I mean, they watch everything you do. 00:07:15.779 --> 00:07:18.339 And I just never felt attached to the job. 00:07:18.420 --> 00:07:26.420 I I enjoyed it, enjoyed the people, but it was just something that that was lacking as far as I didn't feel like I was helping anybody. 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:26.980 Yeah. 00:07:28.180 --> 00:07:36.980 You know, and uh you worked every weekend because people marked off sick, and you know, if you're on the extra board, you worked every weekend, then you might sit around home all week. 00:07:37.139 --> 00:07:37.379 Yeah. 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:42.980 So, but anyway, uh I did a I roofed a house for a for a guy. 00:07:43.139 --> 00:07:44.500 His name was Rick Davis. 00:07:44.579 --> 00:07:48.019 He was uh at that time he was a driver in Cobb County. 00:07:48.100 --> 00:07:50.659 He said, Have you ever thought about coming back? 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:52.899 And I said, Yeah, I've thought about it a bunch. 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:54.100 He said, Well now's a good time. 00:07:54.259 --> 00:07:58.339

He said, We've bought six rescue trucks, we're gonna hire people for that. 00:07:58.579 --> 00:08:00.420 There's gonna be a lot of promotions. 00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:09.620 So that's when I ended up going back in uh I hired back on in uh June the 10th, 1986. 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:10.420 Yeah. 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:29.060 I I volunteered, I actually volunteered in a little town close to here, but um I think if it's a and we'll talk about it being a calling, and I think if you ever do it for a little bit, whether you volunteer or you get hired on or whatever, I don't think it ever gets out of your system. 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:29.860 No, it doesn't. 00:08:30.100 --> 00:08:36.019 I think if it if it's for you, there's always a a pulling back to it until you get in it. 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:39.860 Uh I noticed that I volunteered and then I was in commercial construction. 00:08:39.940 --> 00:08:46.580 I did glass work in Atlanta for years, and the whole time I'm think I and I enjoyed my job. 00:08:46.659 --> 00:08:54.580 I got to work with my brother, we was on the same crew together, and but the whole time I'm still thinking about getting in the fire service. 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:55.220 Yeah. 00:08:55.460 --> 00:09:06.100 Um, and then the opportunity actually came up, and I knew I was 32 at the time, and I knew if I don't do it right now, I'm gonna I ain't gonna do it, I'm gonna be too old. 00:09:06.340 --> 00:09:10.100 So that's that was when I got back into the fire service. 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:16.340 Um but yeah, I think if you if you do it and it's in you, it it's so hard to get away from. 00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:18.659 I say it as a joke sometime. 00:09:18.740 --> 00:09:20.820 I say if you cut me, I bleed red. 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:21.700 Yeah. 00:09:22.019 --> 00:09:22.580 That's right. 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:26.100 Uh well I was I was 33 when I went back. 00:09:26.419 --> 00:09:26.740 Okay. 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:32.340 Uh so uh there's a big difference between 23 and 33. 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:32.820 There is. 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:33.779 There sure is. 00:09:34.019 --> 00:09:34.659 There is. 00:09:34.899 --> 00:09:39.539 There's a especially riding tailboard, that's that's a young man's game. 00:09:39.779 --> 00:09:40.419 It is. 00:09:40.580 --> 00:09:44.019 Um, and you know, everybody knows we don't we don't do that anymore. 00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:47.139 We still refer to a firefighter in the back as riding tailboard sometimes. 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:47.460 Yeah. 00:09:47.939 --> 00:09:49.539 We don't actually do that anymore. 00:09:49.620 --> 00:09:52.259 They they took out some of the fun stuff. 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:54.259 But the dangerous stuff. 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:54.580 Yeah. 00:09:54.820 --> 00:10:01.860 I'm sure in January when it's raining or spitting snow may not have been the funnest time. 00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:04.259 No, you tried to crawl up under the hose cover. 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:08.659 Here's what I keep

thinking about. 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:20.019 So you you you were there for a few months, and I think it's funny that you used not only used your buddy's address to get hired, but it was a suggestion from the chief. 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:20.899 From the chief. 00:10:20.980 --> 00:10:23.220 That's that's even that makes it even funnier. 00:10:23.460 --> 00:10:30.980 But you've gotten enough of the fire service to kind of know what it is, and you've been there for a little bit, and then in a sense, it was taken away from you. 00:10:31.299 --> 00:10:32.740 Kind of like a divorce, I guess. 00:10:32.820 --> 00:10:35.059 I've never been divorced, but man, it hurt. 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:36.740 Yeah, I'm sure it did. 00:10:37.059 --> 00:10:49.539 Did you think in that moment where he came to you and he said, All right, they're they're auditing this stuff and whatever, did you think at that point that your fire service career was just it was just over? 00:10:49.939 --> 00:10:56.259 Well, I was afraid it was, but in the back of my mind I thought, I may get another chance. 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:14.580 And and it was strange when we uh when I worked for it started out as LN Railroad and ended up being CSX, but we went from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and where we stayed in Chattanooga, there was a fire station right across the interstate from the hotel we stayed. 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:15.299 Yeah. 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:25.779 And didn't matter how tired I was when I got there, whatever, I'd lay down at night, hear that fire truck go by, and I caught myself a lot of times opening the blinds up and looking out. 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:26.980 Yeah. 00:11:27.299 --> 00:11:28.659 It's it's weird. 00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:37.939 Um because Mindy, she'll say, So we'll be going down the road and we'll ride past a wreck or whatever, and it's like you have to look over there and see what they're doing. 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:38.899 Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:11:40.340 --> 00:11:42.179 So that's that's funny. 00:11:42.500 --> 00:11:45.539 So here's a part of the story that that interested me. 00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:47.220 You didn't get right back in the fire service. 00:11:47.299 --> 00:11:50.340 You talked about going to uh CSX. 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:51.139 Yeah. 00:11:51.860 --> 00:11:59.539 And train stuff's always been interesting to me, but I don't think I'd I don't think I'd want to get into it, but I think it's interesting. 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:03.379 Um spent some years self-employed doing some stuff. 00:12:04.019 --> 00:12:09.700 Um went to the railroad and you said that was a good job, you just didn't feel satisfied. 00:12:09.939 --> 00:12:12.179 Yeah, it it it was paycheck. 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:13.139 Yeah. 00:12:13.460 --> 00:12:15.939 And it and that kind of goes back to what we were talking about a while ago. 00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:17.620 Once you do it, it's kind of in you. 00:12:17.779 --> 00:12:20.179 Uh, and that's that's something about the fire services. 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:24.580 It's a satisfying career. 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:30.419 Um and uh on the other side of that, and it never fails, this happens all the time. 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:43.620 You run a really good call and you do a good job, everything feels good, and you help somebody, and you're kinda you're kind of on this high, like, man, that went really good. 00:12:43.939 --> 00:12:49.620 And then you run the next call and you do something stupid, and it's just this constant wave of up and down. 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:58.100 And um we had a we had a rookie a couple of years ago, and every time we'd run a call, he'd he'd do really good. 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:00.340 And I'd tell him, I'd say, Man, you're done good on that call. 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:01.620 Like you you did really good. 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:04.259 The very next call, he'd do something stupid. 00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:08.740 And I'm like, every time you you make some progress, you back up a little bit. 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:10.580 I think I may have worked with him. 00:13:11.299 --> 00:13:12.659 I think they're everywhere. 00:13:12.899 --> 00:13:15.460 Super good guy, but it it was funny. 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:21.460 Um so you went eleven years between losing that or that happening at the fire department. 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:22.019 Yeah. 00:13:22.259 --> 00:13:28.019 Uh and then putting back putting back the uniform on and getting back into it. 00:13:29.460 --> 00:13:37.220 What were those 11 years teaching you when you were working for yourself and you were with the railroad? 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:42.100 What did that teach you about what you left at the fire department? 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:47.460 Well, the the camaraderie was completely different. 00:13:47.779 --> 00:13:58.899 Um it seemed like to me those years as railroad, they more or less expected you to know your job rather than try to teach you. 00:13:59.059 --> 00:13:59.460 Yeah. 00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:11.220 Um and in the in the fire service, I never I never remember a shift in almost 25 years that I dreaded going to work. 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:11.620 Yeah. 00:14:11.860 --> 00:14:16.820 As a matter of fact, I'd be thinking, man, I can't wait till tomorrow, see what's new tomorrow. 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:18.419 Because every shift was different. 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:19.620 Yeah, that's right. 00:14:19.939 --> 00:14:27.539 Um and if you're on a train going from Atlanta to Chattanooga, you see the same thing every day. 00:14:28.259 --> 00:14:35.860 You do basically the same thing every day with a few exceptions, but uh every day was new. 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:36.580 Yeah. 00:14:36.820 --> 00:14:39.059 Uh every experience was new. 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:49.539 I was pretty big on critiquing not just uh not just myself but the crew is what we could do better the next time. 00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:49.939 Yeah. 00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:53.700 And if you're not progressing, you're digressing.

00:14:53.939 --> 00:14:54.659 That's right. 00:14:54.899 --> 00:15:05.779 Uh it was the only job I had where you were continually learning, new things came up through the EMS side or the firefighting side, some good, some bad. 00:15:05.939 --> 00:15:08.820 But uh it was just a matter of adapting to it. 00:15:09.299 --> 00:15:11.220 So you just brought up EMS. 00:15:11.379 --> 00:15:23.620 At what point did y'all start and it's kind of jumping ahead, I guess, but at what point did y'all go from just running, I guess, fires and racks, pushing more into that EMS side? 00:15:23.939 --> 00:15:29.779 Um by the time I got back, the fire service, especially in Cobb, it had changed. 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:32.899 I mean, it was almost different night and day. 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:33.299 Yeah. 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:38.580 In '75, there wasn't a whole lot of EMS going on. 00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:39.139 Yeah. 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:45.779 And then by the time 86 got there, uh they were beginning to put everybody through MT school. 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:46.259 Yeah. 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:52.340 Shortly thereafter they started the paramedics, you know, having paramedics, and we went to ALS. 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:55.620 But it it was amazing the difference. 00:15:56.580 --> 00:16:01.139 Uh it wasn't the same job, but in my mind it had even gotten better. 00:16:01.299 --> 00:16:01.620 Yeah. 00:16:01.939 --> 00:16:06.820 Because with with EMS and FIRE, uh you didn't sit around a whole lot. 00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:07.779 Yeah, that's right. 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:12.419 Some stations are slower than others, but I just enjoyed a busier station. 00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:12.899 Yeah. 00:16:13.779 --> 00:16:14.899 Makes the day go by. 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:15.700 It does. 00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:22.259 And uh we're 85% of our call volume now is medical. 00:16:22.659 --> 00:16:27.379 That's probably what Cobbs was then, and it by now there's no telling it. 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:27.779 Yeah. 00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:32.580 Uh which uh at my department we got five stations. 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:44.019 We we don't run a ton of structure fires, and I contribute that to building codes, uh inspections, stuff like that. 00:16:44.179 --> 00:16:48.740 And then just general fire prevention knowledge that gets pushed out. 00:16:49.059 --> 00:16:52.980 We do run we do run fire, but not not a ton of it. 00:16:53.139 --> 00:16:53.299 Yeah. 00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:56.259 But yeah, medical is medical is kind of the big thing. 00:16:56.419 --> 00:16:58.980 Like that's that's the bulk of our our call volume. 00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:05.460 To me, that just increases satisfaction's job because you're trying to make somebody's bad day a little better. 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:06.100 That's right. 00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:06.900 That is exactly right. 00:17:07.140 --> 00:17:10.500 And if you can do that, it's it's a plus. 00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:11.140 Yeah. 00:17:11.299 --> 00:17:17.539 And a lot of people don't understand, like we run mostly older people. 00:17:17.779 --> 00:17:19.620 It's just it's the way it is. 00:17:19.940 --> 00:17:23.780 Um sometimes they just want somebody to talk to. 00:17:23.940 --> 00:17:24.500 Yeah. 00:17:24.820 --> 00:17:25.780 Exactly. 00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:35.620 And and it sometimes it can especially if you run three in the morning, somebody you've run ten times and you get there and you say, All right, what's what's going on? 00:17:35.860 --> 00:17:38.020 Well, my my stomach's killing me. 00:17:38.100 --> 00:17:38.980 Well, when did this start? 00:17:39.060 --> 00:17:41.140 Well, it started about two weeks ago. 00:17:41.540 --> 00:17:45.300 And I'm thinking, so you waited till now to call. 00:17:45.860 --> 00:17:51.860 Um, it's easy to kind of let that get to you, especially at three in the morning. 00:17:52.340 --> 00:18:00.980 But trying to treat everybody because it it don't matter that it's their fifth time calling you in a week, it's still important to them. 00:18:01.060 --> 00:18:01.380 Yeah. 00:18:01.780 --> 00:18:04.580 Uh, and trying to keep that keep that mindset. 00:18:05.060 --> 00:18:10.340 Uh we've run I run a call where a single mama couldn't get a lid off a sippy cup. 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:11.380 And that's all we did. 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:13.300 We pulled up and took the lid off. 00:18:13.540 --> 00:18:18.180 And and it would be really easy to to get aggravated at that. 00:18:18.260 --> 00:18:21.940 Like you mean we sent a million dollar truck and four guys over here to do that. 00:18:22.100 --> 00:18:22.420 Yeah. 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:25.140 But to her, she needed it. 00:18:25.300 --> 00:18:25.460 Yeah. 00:18:25.700 --> 00:18:26.420 That was important. 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:29.140 She needed to she needed to take care of her baby. 00:18:29.460 --> 00:18:36.100 Making sure we we stay centered on why we're doing what we're doing and why we started it in the first place. 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:37.780 I think that's important. 00:18:38.820 --> 00:18:42.260 Uh there's something else that I've wondered about since you told me this story. 00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:52.420 So if if you had never lost that job in the first place, you went to the fire department and it had just rocked on and you never hit that hiccup where you had to leave. 00:18:52.580 --> 00:19:00.260 Uh, do you think you ever would have understood what the fire service really meant to you without that void in the middle to reflect on that? 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:01.460 I really don't. 00:19:01.620 --> 00:19:04.900 I think I think would uh more or less took it for granted. 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:05.140 Yeah. 00:19:05.380 --> 00:19:06.420 I'm afraid I would have. 00:19:06.580 --> 00:19:06.900 Yeah. 00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:18.820 Um I'll never know for sure, but I knew I knew when I got back, even the first day that I I walked in station one down in Mapleton, the chief took me to get uniforms. 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:21.060 It

was just like a breath of fresh air. 00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:25.540 And a lot of that uh you know, it's it's hard to explain all that if you've never done it. 00:19:25.780 --> 00:19:26.500 Yeah, that's right. 00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:29.140 It was like I'd found my first love all over again. 00:19:30.340 --> 00:19:31.140 I gotcha. 00:19:31.540 --> 00:19:34.100 Kind of get back it feels kind of like you're going home, I guess. 00:19:34.340 --> 00:19:35.140 Yeah, yeah. 00:19:35.380 --> 00:19:37.540 There was a lot more people involved. 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:44.100 Uh Cobb had built several when I first hired on, I think there were nineteen stations in the county. 00:19:44.340 --> 00:19:49.780 And by the time I got back, it there was uh in just a little while, they were up to twenty-three. 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:51.860 And back then the stations were small. 00:19:52.020 --> 00:19:52.260 Yeah. 00:19:52.420 --> 00:19:57.860 I mean, now they're it's unreal what they look like now, but yeah. 00:19:58.820 --> 00:20:02.500 I th all of our stations now have individual bunk rooms. 00:20:02.660 --> 00:20:02.820 Yeah. 00:20:02.980 --> 00:20:04.740 Like I've got my own room. 00:20:04.980 --> 00:20:06.340 Everybody does. 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:12.260 And it's nice because we spend so much time together, at some point we get on each other's nerves. 00:20:12.500 --> 00:20:12.820 Oh, yeah. 00:20:13.060 --> 00:20:13.380 You know. 00:20:13.780 --> 00:20:14.820 Intentionally or otherwise. 00:20:15.060 --> 00:20:15.780 Yeah, that's right. 00:20:15.860 --> 00:20:17.220 Sometimes it's on purpose. 00:20:17.380 --> 00:20:23.140 Uh, but you can in the afternoon go to your room, you know, you chill out, whatever you need to do. 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:27.780 But I think that also takes away from that camaraderie a little bit. 00:20:28.020 --> 00:20:28.660 It does. 00:20:28.900 --> 00:20:33.540 Um, and we try to so my thing is the kitchen table. 00:20:33.860 --> 00:20:40.580 Because some people they're on health kicks and and I'm not saying anything bad about that, but they meal prep and they do different things. 00:20:40.660 --> 00:20:41.780 And that's fine. 00:20:42.020 --> 00:20:46.260 But let's at least sit down together and eat at the same time. 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:53.940 Because especially now with individual bunks, we just all separate, you know, at eight o'clock, nine o'clock, whatever, we get ready to go to bed. 00:20:54.180 --> 00:21:06.900 So that kitchen table is our time to just we're not training, we're not doing all that, we're just sitting down as a cruise, as a family, and just talking. 00:21:07.620 --> 00:21:09.220 Talking about days off. 00:21:09.380 --> 00:21:19.540 Or, you know, we a lot of times we talk about calls that we run and what we could have done different or whatever, but that's kind of our our time to to just sit down together and just talk. 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:20.020 Yeah. 00:21:20.420 --> 00:21:22.420 So I think that that's really important. 00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:25.540 So there's a line you gave me before we ever sat down. 00:21:25.780 --> 00:21:33.060 Um, and I've been wanting to kind of come back to it and we've mentioned it already, but you said I think the fire service is a calling. 00:21:33.620 --> 00:21:36.420 I also think if it's not, then you won't stay. 00:21:36.660 --> 00:21:45.220 Now that I know what it took for you to leave it, spend eleven years away and eventually come back, tell me what that statement actually means to you. 00:21:46.020 --> 00:21:54.900 Um well, what what I saw the first time I hired on, the guys at the station I went to had been there a good while. 00:21:55.140 --> 00:21:58.260 By the time I came back, there's always new people coming in. 00:21:58.420 --> 00:21:58.500 Yeah. 00:21:58.740 --> 00:22:02.100 And it's hard to explain, but you either fit in or you don't. 00:22:02.340 --> 00:22:05.620 And some people are not my it's not a call into them, it's a job. 00:22:05.780 --> 00:22:06.180 Yeah. 00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:12.900 And uh even as far as I had one guy, a new guy that came in, he didn't like to get wet. 00:22:13.300 --> 00:22:14.420 That's a problem. 00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:19.140 And it is it when we tried to explain that to him. 00:22:19.780 --> 00:22:29.380 Um but it's um I worked with several people that had two and three college degrees and they were rapping about the fire service. 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:34.500 And I said, there's people waiting in line that this would really mean something to. 00:22:34.580 --> 00:22:34.900 Yeah. 00:22:35.140 --> 00:22:38.660 And you've got you're educated beyond your means anyway. 00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:41.700 Why don't you find something related to one of those fields? 00:22:41.860 --> 00:22:42.100 Yeah. 00:22:42.260 --> 00:22:45.300 It it just it just always felt like a calling to me. 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:48.660 And uh I really don't know how else to explain it. 00:22:48.980 --> 00:22:52.340 We we have a lot of people who it's just a job. 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:55.620 They they enjoy because we do 24 on, 48 off. 00:22:55.700 --> 00:22:56.100 Yeah. 00:22:56.340 --> 00:23:00.980 And that works really good because they own side businesses and they do whatever. 00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:04.420 So to them it's just a it's just a job. 00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:07.780 But for most of those people, they never progress. 00:23:08.420 --> 00:23:10.820 And everybody, everybody shouldn't promote. 00:23:10.900 --> 00:23:16.420 I'm not saying that, but like they just they're happy just being there. 00:23:16.500 --> 00:23:18.340 Like they don't want to get any better. 00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:18.740 Yeah. 00:23:18.900 --> 00:23:27.220 They don't want to progress past where they are because it's just a job and it's insurance, and they got a really good schedule. 00:23:27.540 --> 00:23:34.420 Um, but you can you can also see the ones that some of them are even over the top invested in the fire service. 00:23:35.220

--> 00:23:36.180 You can do that too. 00:23:36.260 --> 00:23:36.740 Yeah. 00:23:36.980 --> 00:23:45.940 Um, but you can tell the ones who feel like it's a call into them because they they try to learn and they keep progressing and moving forward and stuff. 00:23:46.180 --> 00:23:58.020 Uh on the sometimes it's referred to as ate up with it people who are just way too invested because then it starts taking a toll on your home life and your family. 00:23:58.180 --> 00:23:58.740 Oh yeah. 00:23:58.900 --> 00:24:11.780 Um, and there's been because I instruct a lot and stuff, and I I as I since I've made lieutenant, I've backed off from that side a little bit, but I still teach our driver program, the pumping stuff and all that. 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:12.500 I enjoy that. 00:24:12.660 --> 00:24:17.060 But it's easy to get roped into always saying yes to everything they ask you. 00:24:17.220 --> 00:24:17.700 Yeah. 00:24:18.020 --> 00:24:21.700 And after you do that a few times, then they just expect you to say yes. 00:24:21.860 --> 00:24:25.540 So they're always going to come to you, and then you're never at home. 00:24:25.780 --> 00:24:27.940 There's been so much time I've spent at the fire station. 00:24:28.020 --> 00:24:28.900 I wasn't getting paid. 00:24:28.980 --> 00:24:31.220 I was there just doing whatever. 00:24:31.620 --> 00:24:48.660 When and it hit me now that my oldest daughter just got married, and my second daughter's about to get married, and my third daughter's about to go to college, how much time I've missed aside from the normal shift stuff, how much of their lives I've just given up trying to do other stuff, you know. 00:24:48.820 --> 00:24:57.140 So there's a there's definitely a balance between being invested and caring about your job and overdoing it, if that makes sense. 00:24:57.700 --> 00:25:01.220 Uh can somebody be good at this job without loving it? 00:25:01.460 --> 00:25:03.140 I I think you can. 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:06.420 I just think it's a lot easier if you do love it. 00:25:06.580 --> 00:25:09.780 But like I said, you you can actually give too much into it. 00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:10.580 Yeah. 00:25:10.820 --> 00:25:20.580 And uh I never really shared with my daughters, I've I've got two daughters, and my wife what actually really went on. 00:25:20.740 --> 00:25:21.060 Yeah. 00:25:21.220 --> 00:25:23.460 If they asked questions, I wouldn't lie to them. 00:25:23.540 --> 00:25:23.860 Yeah. 00:25:24.100 --> 00:25:29.860 But it amazed me after I retired how much my wife didn't know exactly what the job entailed. 00:25:29.940 --> 00:25:30.340 Yeah. 00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:38.580 I mean, you see stuff on TV and and all that, but um, if if somebody's not into it, it's hard to explain it. 00:25:38.660 --> 00:25:38.900 Yeah. 00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:40.980 Or it has been for me. 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:46.660 Um We talked about that in last week's episode uh a little bit. 00:25:46.740 --> 00:25:47.620 We touched on that. 00:25:47.780 --> 00:25:52.100 And because I don't tell my wife and kids everything. 00:25:52.260 --> 00:25:52.660 Yeah. 00:25:52.980 --> 00:26:02.820 But it's hard because they have social media, and a lot of times I run a a bad call, maybe it's a wreck on 75 or it's whatever. 00:26:03.460 --> 00:26:06.180 They know about it before I ever even get off the call. 00:26:06.340 --> 00:26:06.660 Yeah. 00:26:07.140 --> 00:26:21.140 Um, and then and that's kind of I mentioned it earlier where I have to find a balance of telling them, okay, I run a bad call, you know, I'm it may bother me for a day or two or whatever. 00:26:21.380 --> 00:26:25.460 If I'm kind of not talking a lot, that's that's why. 00:26:25.700 --> 00:26:29.700 But not giving them a ton, yeah, I can't give them details about what it is. 00:26:29.940 --> 00:26:41.540 That's but going back to that balance between feeling like I'm protecting them from the details, but letting them know, hey, this is is kind of what's going on. 00:26:41.860 --> 00:26:46.660 Because typically everything on social media is wrong anyway. 00:26:46.820 --> 00:26:53.300 It's it's all these uh social media lawyers and all these people who love to talk and think they know everything. 00:26:53.620 --> 00:26:54.180 The experts. 00:26:54.340 --> 00:26:55.540 Yeah, all the experts. 00:26:55.700 --> 00:27:03.300 So uh yeah, there's a balance there on that too, is as far as what we share and what we don't, and uh it and it is hard. 00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:08.180 I mentioned the going to the clinician earlier uh when we were talking. 00:27:08.420 --> 00:27:17.860 It's hard to talk up to it about somebody who is either not in it or doesn't have a passion for it because they just they just don't understand. 00:27:18.100 --> 00:27:21.620 There's so many things that we deal with, and and we mentioned this the other day too. 00:27:21.700 --> 00:27:28.660 I run a an infant a few years ago that passed away about six in the morning. 00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:30.580 Um hard call. 00:27:30.740 --> 00:27:33.540 We worked it and it didn't make it. 00:27:33.860 --> 00:27:35.700 And we left that call. 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:38.660 This is right before shift change, we were about to get off. 00:27:38.900 --> 00:27:44.100 We we hung out on that call and talked just amongst ourselves for a little bit because it was it was hard. 00:27:44.260 --> 00:27:48.340 And then left that call and on the way back to the station called a call for a lift assist. 00:27:48.500 --> 00:27:53.060 So we run the lift assist, we get there, and we get cussed out because it took us so long to get there. 00:27:53.380 --> 00:28:01.780 That transition between all right, we just ran this, and the and the lift assist patient didn't know what we had just run, you know. 00:28:01.860 --> 00:28:22.100 I I can't fault them for that, but us having to transition from running this really hard call to immediately running a lift assist, which we run 10 of a day and getting talked

to that way while we're still trying to process and deal with what we just left, you know. 00:28:22.340 --> 00:28:36.020 And then we we finally get back to the station and I do the reports and I go home and then I just sit on the front porch by myself for a little bit because you have to start processing that stuff or it will just it'll eat you alive. 00:28:36.260 --> 00:28:36.900 It will. 00:28:37.220 --> 00:28:43.060 Um so yeah, that's that's kind of the things that you learn how to work through. 00:28:43.140 --> 00:28:53.060 And we we're really good at just cramming stuff in boxes and so well, I just won't worry about that until you run something down the road that reminds you of it and you gotta deal with it again. 00:28:53.380 --> 00:29:00.580 Well, a lot of times, you know how friends that aren't in public safety, they'll say, Well, I'll sleep all night. 00:29:00.820 --> 00:29:01.300 Yeah. 00:29:01.540 --> 00:29:10.100 And I I would think about that and I'd try to ease up a little bit, but I have one guy, every time I saw him, what'd you dream about last night? 00:29:10.740 --> 00:29:13.620 I said, Well, what were you doing at three o'clock last night? 00:29:13.780 --> 00:29:14.100 Yeah. 00:29:14.260 --> 00:29:15.540 Well, I was sleeping. 00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:17.220 I said, Well, I wasn't. 00:29:17.380 --> 00:29:18.020 Yeah. 00:29:18.580 --> 00:29:19.060 Yeah. 00:29:19.300 --> 00:29:22.820 And I'd be tempted to tell him some of the gory details, but I wouldn't. 00:29:22.900 --> 00:29:23.140 Yeah. 00:29:23.380 --> 00:29:27.140 But anybody ever ask you, what's the worst call you ever run? 00:29:27.780 --> 00:29:28.500 All the time. 00:29:28.660 --> 00:29:28.900 Yeah. 00:29:29.060 --> 00:29:30.020 All the time. 00:29:30.340 --> 00:29:34.820 You know, if you do it that long, it's hard to figure out the worst one. 00:29:34.980 --> 00:29:38.980 I've got probably probably five of the worst ones, I guess. 00:29:39.140 --> 00:29:39.300 Yeah. 00:29:39.540 --> 00:29:41.060 But you know. 00:29:41.300 --> 00:29:43.620 And that they want the gory details. 00:29:43.780 --> 00:29:44.100 Yeah. 00:29:44.260 --> 00:29:46.580 People in their right mind don't really want to do that. 00:29:46.660 --> 00:29:48.340 But they they think they want to. 00:29:48.900 --> 00:29:49.380 Yeah. 00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:50.180 They do. 00:29:50.420 --> 00:29:53.140 I said, well, I I can't tell you what it smelled like. 00:29:53.300 --> 00:29:53.540 Yeah. 00:29:53.700 --> 00:29:55.220 You you couldn't comprehend that. 00:29:55.380 --> 00:29:55.780 Yeah. 00:29:56.020 --> 00:29:57.860 I said, I can tell you what it looked like. 00:29:58.100 --> 00:29:58.660 Yeah. 00:29:58.980 --> 00:30:01.300 Yeah, we do a whole lot more than people realize. 00:30:01.460 --> 00:30:02.100 Yeah. 00:30:03.140 --> 00:30:03.540 All right. 00:30:03.700 --> 00:30:07.380 So somewhere along the way, you you stopped being the new guy. 00:30:07.620 --> 00:30:11.060 Uh, and you made it y'all called them engineers. 00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:11.940 Yeah. 00:30:12.100 --> 00:30:15.060 Um we call ours is a sergeant. 00:30:15.460 --> 00:30:17.940 Well, that's that's way ours started out, sergeant. 00:30:18.740 --> 00:30:21.860 And it's the same thing, drive your your job is driving pumpkin. 00:30:22.020 --> 00:30:22.260 Yeah. 00:30:22.500 --> 00:30:25.060 Um so you made that in '91? 00:30:25.380 --> 00:30:26.340 91, yeah. 00:30:26.580 --> 00:30:28.420 And then you made lieutenant in 2000? 00:30:28.500 --> 00:30:29.140 Yeah. 00:30:29.380 --> 00:30:34.900 Uh eventually there were younger firefighters looking at you the way you once looked at the older guys. 00:30:35.060 --> 00:30:38.660 And I remember when I got in the fire service, how I looked at the older guys. 00:30:38.900 --> 00:30:42.820 And now most of them are retired, and I'm the one that's been there. 00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:43.220 Yeah. 00:30:43.540 --> 00:30:44.820 Been there for a while. 00:30:45.060 --> 00:30:49.780 Uh, what did leadership teach you that you couldn't have understood at first? 00:30:50.420 --> 00:30:57.380 Maybe uh an officer you had that that taught you something well about leadership. 00:30:57.700 --> 00:31:07.060 Uh well, there there were several, and and what I got out of it, some lieutenants be more than willing to tell you what to do. 00:31:07.220 --> 00:31:07.460 Yeah. 00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:10.020 But they weren't always willing to show you what to do. 00:31:10.180 --> 00:31:10.420 Yeah. 00:31:10.820 --> 00:31:20.900 And I made up my mind, I never had aspiration to go any further than lieutenant after they changed the process where they were appointed instead of tested. 00:31:21.060 --> 00:31:21.380 Yeah. 00:31:21.860 --> 00:31:27.140 Uh to me that you know, and they expect you to do things that you didn't get paid for. 00:31:27.300 --> 00:31:27.940 Yeah. 00:31:28.100 --> 00:31:36.580 Uh and I I had I wanted more for my family, so I worked out my off days instead of hanging out at the office. 00:31:36.820 --> 00:31:44.260 I always said, once I make become an officer, I'm gonna try to be the one that people want to work with. 00:31:44.420 --> 00:31:44.740 Yeah. 00:31:45.140 --> 00:31:48.740 Because everybody had those they knew they didn't want to work with. 00:31:48.980 --> 00:31:50.260 I didn't want to be one of those. 00:31:50.340 --> 00:31:50.580 Yeah. 00:31:50.740 --> 00:31:52.820 I wanted to help people be better at the job. 00:31:53.060 --> 00:31:53.540 That's right. 00:31:53.940 --> 00:31:55.460 Better at the station. 00:31:56.100 --> 00:32:03.620 And I always had the attitude that, you know, we're all grown we're all adults, supposedly. 00:32:04.020 --> 00:32:04.260 Yeah. 00:32:04.500 --> 00:32:06.900 And if you see something that needs to be done, just do it. 00:32:07.140 --> 00:32:07.700 That's right. 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:10.260 And if you want to tell me about it later, that's fine. 00:32:10.340 --> 00:32:15.220 But at the end of the shift, if you've done

more than I have, I'll apologize and I'll make it up to you. 00:32:15.300 --> 00:32:15.700 Yeah. 00:32:15.940 --> 00:32:21.700 Uh I had a lot of leaders that they were above washing dishes. 00:32:21.860 --> 00:32:22.260 Yeah. 00:32:22.420 --> 00:32:27.620 Uh floor day came, you couldn't find them, but they they they were there long enough to tell you what needed to be done. 00:32:27.780 --> 00:32:27.940 Yeah. 00:32:28.100 --> 00:32:29.540 And I didn't want to be that kind. 00:32:29.940 --> 00:32:38.900 Well, there's this thing about and I've tried to stick with this where you you don't ever ask somebody to do something that you're not willing to do. 00:32:39.140 --> 00:32:47.300 Um and one thing that we're in now is we've just moved to a new computer system. 00:32:48.100 --> 00:32:51.700 Everything goes through the computer system and it's logged in and all that. 00:32:51.940 --> 00:32:55.620 So we're doing pre-plans, all that stuff's gotta be logged in. 00:32:55.780 --> 00:32:59.140 We're doing massive amounts trying to get everything into this new system. 00:32:59.300 --> 00:33:08.580 And then we have a re you know, the long reports with the PCRs and all this stuff that we do after every single call and uh hydrant maintenance, all that's gotta go. 00:33:08.740 --> 00:33:21.300 All of this stuff that now that I've made officer has pulled me into the office more and I have to rely on my sergeants to lead a lot of the training that we do. 00:33:21.540 --> 00:33:23.780 And it's aggravating. 00:33:23.940 --> 00:33:29.940 Like I want to be outside, but if I if I take two hours, then I'm behind. 00:33:30.100 --> 00:33:30.660 Yeah. 00:33:30.900 --> 00:33:32.660 And it's hard to get caught up. 00:33:32.900 --> 00:33:33.300 It is. 00:33:33.380 --> 00:33:34.500 It it absolutely is. 00:33:34.580 --> 00:33:37.380 And especially like I'm leaving Saturday to go to Florida. 00:33:37.620 --> 00:33:40.260 When I come back, I'll be behind for three shoots. 00:33:40.500 --> 00:33:40.820 Oh, yeah. 00:33:40.900 --> 00:33:41.140 Yeah. 00:33:41.300 --> 00:33:41.700 At least. 00:33:41.940 --> 00:33:45.300 So yeah, so it's uh that's kind of where we're at now. 00:33:45.460 --> 00:33:56.900 There is so much administration side to being an officer that it pulls you from the operation side somewhat as far as training and stuff like that. 00:33:57.220 --> 00:34:02.900 And, you know, we can be a a sergeant or a lieutenant or a captain or whatever. 00:34:03.220 --> 00:34:04.740 We're all still firefighters. 00:34:04.820 --> 00:34:16.099 We all still want to get outside and do hands-on stuff and get better and train, but we just get pulled away from that clerical side that nobody really likes doing. 00:34:16.340 --> 00:34:16.900 Yeah, that's true. 00:34:17.139 --> 00:34:18.099 That is part of it. 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:21.139 All right, so you made you made officer. 00:34:21.539 --> 00:34:25.380 What was one thing you learned the hard way about being an officer? 00:34:25.699 --> 00:34:29.460 Well, it's kind of like that biblical verse. 00:34:30.180 --> 00:34:32.340 When much is given, much is required. 00:34:32.500 --> 00:34:32.660 Yeah. 00:34:33.059 --> 00:34:36.180 You have to deal somewhat with discipline. 00:34:37.460 --> 00:34:39.619 Personality's always in the conflict. 00:34:39.940 --> 00:34:40.900 Yes, absolutely. 00:34:41.380 --> 00:34:44.820 Political correctness became a big thing before I left. 00:34:45.059 --> 00:34:51.380 And and I said when uh they told us when we went to computers, oh, that'll cut your time way down. 00:34:51.700 --> 00:34:51.940 Yeah. 00:34:52.180 --> 00:34:53.380 Well, they were wrong. 00:34:54.420 --> 00:35:04.980 I could sit down with a notebook and do a fire report in less than thirty minutes before came to the computer, man, it it was tremendously different. 00:35:05.460 --> 00:35:06.099 So detailed. 00:35:06.500 --> 00:35:15.140 But the b the big thing I think was I didn't want people looking up, but if if you're in that position, people do look up and they're expecting. 00:35:15.380 --> 00:35:15.700 Yeah. 00:35:15.860 --> 00:35:17.140 And that's the big thing. 00:35:17.300 --> 00:35:20.579 You in the back of your mind you're trying to meet their expectations. 00:35:20.900 --> 00:35:24.740 But I felt like my biggest job was to make them better firefighters. 00:35:24.900 --> 00:35:25.539 Yeah. 00:35:25.940 --> 00:35:29.700 And if you do that, you actually make them better people as a process. 00:35:30.099 --> 00:35:30.900 That is right. 00:35:32.180 --> 00:35:37.220 Anytime you have a chance to make, like I said earlier, somebody's bad day better. 00:35:37.460 --> 00:35:37.780 Yeah. 00:35:38.019 --> 00:35:41.059 That's that's pretty pretty high calling. 00:35:41.300 --> 00:35:43.220 And it may be one of our own people. 00:35:43.460 --> 00:35:44.019 Exactly. 00:35:44.180 --> 00:35:44.420 Yeah. 00:35:44.660 --> 00:35:45.619 Exactly. 00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:52.900 And and I think people forget that they kind of see us as and it's just like police officers, whatever. 00:35:53.059 --> 00:35:55.380 Lots of times they don't see us as just people. 00:35:55.539 --> 00:35:56.180 Yeah. 00:35:56.500 --> 00:35:58.579 And we come in, we have bad days. 00:35:58.740 --> 00:36:02.740 We come in sometimes in a bad mood or we didn't sleep good or or whatever. 00:36:02.980 --> 00:36:09.460 Sometimes helping somebody is one of our own crew or one of our own people. 00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:11.300 All right. 00:36:11.460 --> 00:36:17.700 So apparently for you, working at one fire department wasn't enough uh to keep you busy. 00:36:18.260 --> 00:36:22.820 So while all this is happening, you started volunteering for Dallas. 00:36:23.140 --> 00:36:24.099 City of Dallas, yeah. 00:36:24.180 --> 00:36:24.420 Yep. 00:36:24.500 --> 00:36:26.820 And then ended up being the chief. 00:36:27.140 --> 00:36:27.460 Yeah. 00:36:27.619 --> 00:36:30.980 I yeah, I d I'm still not sure how that happened. 00:36:31.619 -->

00:36:34.019 Tell me a little bit about that chapter. 00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:49.220 The big difference I saw was it's not it's not easy to explain, but if um we had to do basically the same job with a lot less equipment, a lot less training. 00:36:49.539 --> 00:37:00.420 We tried to do training, but it's you know, if if you're not getting paid to be somewhere three or four hours a week, it it's not easy getting everybody there. 00:37:00.740 --> 00:37:01.140 That's right. 00:37:01.940 --> 00:37:04.500 And I think a lot of them basically want the same thing. 00:37:04.579 --> 00:37:07.780 They wanted to be able to do it, but they wanted to be able to go home afterward. 00:37:07.940 --> 00:37:08.340 Yeah. 00:37:08.579 --> 00:37:10.260 Uh like they showed up. 00:37:10.420 --> 00:37:12.579 And that was always a big thing to me. 00:37:12.820 --> 00:37:19.940 If we can get the job done without getting somebody hurt and make somebody's b day better, we've done pretty good. 00:37:20.260 --> 00:37:20.420 Yeah. 00:37:20.660 --> 00:37:21.059 That's right. 00:37:22.099 --> 00:37:23.140 It was amazing. 00:37:23.380 --> 00:37:38.180 Cobb the whole last twenty-four years I was there, the equipment got better and more advanced, and to where uh they started buying the same engines from Pierce, and all the trucks were loaded the same. 00:37:38.260 --> 00:37:46.420 If I floated from 1st Battalion in South Cobb to East Cobb, I knew where everything was at on the truck, and that made a big difference. 00:37:46.740 --> 00:37:47.539 That's right, it does. 00:37:48.019 --> 00:37:59.619 Um volunteering, they put stuff where they wanted to, and i it was just uh it was hard to expect somebody to do what I did for a living for nothing. 00:37:59.780 --> 00:38:00.180 Yeah. 00:38:00.820 --> 00:38:04.579 You know, a lot of people just aren't gonna run in when everybody else is running out. 00:38:04.740 --> 00:38:05.140 Yeah. 00:38:05.380 --> 00:38:08.579 If there's not a little more incentive than just saying, you know. 00:38:09.059 --> 00:38:09.780 That's right. 00:38:10.099 --> 00:38:12.260 Did was there just one station? 00:38:12.579 --> 00:38:13.380 In Dallas, yeah. 00:38:13.619 --> 00:38:14.579 Yeah, for City of Dallas. 00:38:14.660 --> 00:38:14.820 Okay. 00:38:14.980 --> 00:38:15.300 Yeah. 00:38:15.539 --> 00:38:19.619 And that's uh that's one thing we've talked about before, because we're all Pierce. 00:38:19.780 --> 00:38:23.220 Everything we have is Pierce, our aerials, our engines, everything. 00:38:23.460 --> 00:38:24.420 And we're blessed. 00:38:24.500 --> 00:38:28.340 We have our oldest frontline truck right now is 2018. 00:38:28.579 --> 00:38:29.059 Wow. 00:38:29.300 --> 00:38:34.579 Equipment, top of the line equipment, city council takes care of us. 00:38:35.860 --> 00:38:37.780 And and that's that's wonderful. 00:38:37.940 --> 00:38:39.940 Like, like I said, we are so blessed. 00:38:40.180 --> 00:38:44.180 But we've got a lot of new guys who have never been to another fire department. 00:38:44.260 --> 00:38:49.780 They've never volunteered anywhere else, and they don't appreciate what we have. 00:38:50.340 --> 00:39:00.900 I'm sure City of Dallas made you appreciate what Cobb had a little more because you got to see, all right, we're we're doing the same job, essentially. 00:39:01.059 --> 00:39:01.539 Yeah. 00:39:01.860 --> 00:39:04.420 With with less equipment. 00:39:04.900 --> 00:39:14.420 I I assume um trucks were probably older and equipment was probably older just because of where I volunteered when I started. 00:39:14.579 --> 00:39:14.900 Yeah. 00:39:15.300 --> 00:39:19.380 Um smaller departments are just the funding's not the same. 00:39:19.539 --> 00:39:29.460 So yeah, we we see that a lot where people kind of get into this groove where they don't appreciate what they have because they've never seen what other departments have to deal with. 00:39:29.860 --> 00:39:31.619 And do the same job with less. 00:39:31.860 --> 00:39:32.099 Yeah. 00:39:32.180 --> 00:39:32.340 Yeah. 00:39:32.660 --> 00:39:33.380 Absolutely. 00:39:33.539 --> 00:39:34.019 Absolutely. 00:39:34.340 --> 00:39:38.820 I I admire I admire volunteer firefighters for that very reason. 00:39:39.140 --> 00:39:39.860 Absolutely. 00:39:40.099 --> 00:39:46.900 Now, Dallas did get a uh 1994 Pierce Dash while I was volunteering with them. 00:39:47.059 --> 00:39:50.019 And that's actually one one of the ways I got in there. 00:39:50.180 --> 00:39:52.500 And it it was it was top of the line. 00:39:52.660 --> 00:39:53.300 Yeah. 00:39:54.260 --> 00:40:01.220 The county got it when when the county took over and became a a paid department. 00:40:01.619 --> 00:40:06.019 So there's there's no city departments in Pauldon now, are that's all county? 00:40:06.260 --> 00:40:07.220 Yeah, it's all county. 00:40:07.460 --> 00:40:07.619 Okay. 00:40:07.780 --> 00:40:08.099 Yeah. 00:40:08.340 --> 00:40:10.180 I actually go to a lot of classes. 00:40:10.260 --> 00:40:12.099 They they hold a lot of classes up there. 00:40:12.180 --> 00:40:12.500 Yeah. 00:40:12.740 --> 00:40:16.099 Um They progressed tremendously in the last 20 years. 00:40:16.340 --> 00:40:16.740 Yeah. 00:40:16.900 --> 00:40:19.539 Uh Chief Parker, I think he's a battalion chief. 00:40:19.700 --> 00:40:20.660 I don't know if you know him. 00:40:20.820 --> 00:40:22.019 Uh I've dealt with him a good bit. 00:40:22.099 --> 00:40:22.500 He's super. 00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:24.900 I've known him since he was a little midi kid. 00:40:25.059 --> 00:40:26.980 His daddy was a Cobb County firefighter. 00:40:27.300 --> 00:40:27.539 Okay. 00:40:27.700 --> 00:40:28.099 All right. 00:40:28.340 --> 00:40:32.500 So you've given this this perspective that a lot of people can't. 00:40:32.740 --> 00:40:40.420 So you came into the profession in 75 initially, and now here we are in 2026 talking about it. 00:40:40.660 --> 00:40:52.260 So instead of me just going down everything that's changed, if you could take the

firehouse that you knew then and set it beside a firehouse today, what stands out to you the most? 00:40:52.579 --> 00:40:53.619 The apparatus. 00:40:53.860 --> 00:40:54.180 Yeah. 00:40:54.340 --> 00:40:54.660 Okay. 00:40:54.900 --> 00:41:02.740 When uh when I first went to work in 75, we used to hood the cab over FMCs and I said tailboard. 00:41:02.980 --> 00:41:03.300 Yeah. 00:41:03.460 --> 00:41:15.300 And I never will forget the first morning I showed up, it was on Sunday at Station 18, and my lieutenant Johnny Payne, he showed me the air pack and I said, the air pack. 00:41:15.539 --> 00:41:15.700 Yeah. 00:41:15.860 --> 00:41:17.220 There was one air pack on the truck. 00:41:17.380 --> 00:41:18.660 He said, We don't use it much. 00:41:19.059 --> 00:41:19.220 Okay. 00:41:20.260 --> 00:41:22.500 And uh and we didn't. 00:41:23.140 --> 00:41:26.099 And that may be why I got cancer now, I don't know. 00:41:26.660 --> 00:41:40.260 Which is now I I you know, I don't question that, but later on we had four or five air packs to every every piece of equipment but there was a mask attached to each one of those. 00:41:40.340 --> 00:41:40.820 Yeah. 00:41:41.059 --> 00:41:44.180 And then thankfully later on, we had our own mask. 00:41:44.340 --> 00:41:44.660 Yeah. 00:41:44.900 --> 00:41:50.260 You cleaned it, you took care of it, you put it in your docker when you got off shift, you put it back on, you know. 00:41:51.059 --> 00:41:57.780 Way back when y'all had one air pack per truck, were you looked down on for using it? 00:41:58.019 --> 00:41:58.740 Oh Lord. 00:42:00.019 --> 00:42:01.539 You'd get laughed out of the station. 00:42:01.860 --> 00:42:02.420 That's what I thought. 00:42:02.740 --> 00:42:04.340 Really, I mean, it was just that bad. 00:42:04.420 --> 00:42:11.300 And uh the big thing was the dirtier you got, the soottier you got, yeah, the better it was. 00:42:11.539 --> 00:42:11.860 That's right. 00:42:12.019 --> 00:42:13.860 You know, that's you had to get dirty. 00:42:14.099 --> 00:42:15.460 That's still that's still a thing. 00:42:15.700 --> 00:42:20.820 And even like Rex, you know, if you didn't have a little blood on you, you won you wasn't really where you know. 00:42:21.220 --> 00:42:21.700 Yeah. 00:42:22.019 --> 00:42:29.460 Y'all had uh that was still them old steel what 22 16s tanks, yeah. 00:42:29.619 --> 00:42:29.940 Yep. 00:42:30.260 --> 00:42:30.820 Heavy. 00:42:31.059 --> 00:42:31.780 Oh yeah. 00:42:31.940 --> 00:42:32.420 Yep. 00:42:32.740 --> 00:42:37.059 Uh we had a our training chief, he's retired now, but that's all he would use. 00:42:37.460 --> 00:42:40.980 If we did burns or something, he was leading a burn, that's still what he used. 00:42:41.059 --> 00:42:41.140 Yeah. 00:42:41.780 --> 00:42:42.820 I don't know, he liked it. 00:42:44.180 --> 00:42:48.260 So every generation seems to think firefighters coming behind them are different. 00:42:48.500 --> 00:42:51.860 When you were young, were the old guys saying the same

thing about you? 00:42:52.180 --> 00:42:53.539 Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:42:54.579 --> 00:42:55.460 You'll learn. 00:42:55.619 --> 00:42:56.340 You'll learn. 00:42:56.900 --> 00:42:58.099 That was the big thing. 00:42:58.260 --> 00:42:59.539 You'll f you'll find out. 00:42:59.860 --> 00:43:00.340 That's right. 00:43:00.500 --> 00:43:01.140 Yeah. 00:43:02.660 --> 00:43:09.059 If you could bring something from 75 into one of our stations now, what would you bring with you? 00:43:09.300 --> 00:43:10.900 Well, that's a good question, Derek. 00:43:11.140 --> 00:43:14.340 Um I think a lot of it would be the like-mindedness. 00:43:14.420 --> 00:43:19.380 It didn't seem back then that personalities were that much different or something. 00:43:19.619 --> 00:43:22.579 There wasn't as much training going on then either. 00:43:22.900 --> 00:43:27.619 But uh I guess really just the camaraderie that they had then. 00:43:27.700 --> 00:43:36.019 There's yeah it seems like now with all the political correctness and you know, you gotta be a lot more careful what you say, what you do. 00:43:36.180 --> 00:43:40.980 It took a lot of fun out of it, but uh it's still it's still gotta be the best game around. 00:43:41.220 --> 00:43:41.460 Yeah. 00:43:41.619 --> 00:43:52.099 Yeah, the h the whole political correctness and and all of that is like we we still try to do some pranks and we pick on each other a lot. 00:43:52.180 --> 00:43:52.420 Yeah. 00:43:52.820 --> 00:43:54.099 But it's different. 00:43:54.740 --> 00:44:01.220 I think in 75 was actually when they first hired women in Cobb County. 00:44:01.460 --> 00:44:01.700 Really. 00:44:01.940 --> 00:44:12.980 And uh until it was almost nineteen ninety or thereabouts before we had partitions, much less separate cubicles. 00:44:13.140 --> 00:44:13.380 Yeah. 00:44:13.780 --> 00:44:17.780 Uh and if there was a woman there sh she was just there. 00:44:17.940 --> 00:44:20.980 You know, you had to And it it changed a lot of things. 00:44:21.140 --> 00:44:21.380 Yeah. 00:44:21.539 --> 00:44:26.180 As a matter of fact, the first woman they hired on became chief of the department later on. 00:44:26.980 --> 00:44:34.500 And uh we have our training chief now is uh she's a lady. 00:44:35.059 --> 00:44:37.539 And we don't have any in suppression. 00:44:37.860 --> 00:44:41.780 We had one she left and can't remember where she went. 00:44:41.860 --> 00:44:43.059 She went to a different job. 00:44:43.380 --> 00:44:44.340 DNR maybe. 00:44:44.500 --> 00:44:45.059 I can't remember. 00:44:45.220 --> 00:44:45.460 Yeah. 00:44:45.619 --> 00:44:51.140 Um but she had a DNR background anyway, but uh yeah, we don't have any in suppression right now. 00:44:51.539 --> 00:44:59.780 We did, and I've had some that I would just soon go in a fire with as uh more so than some of the m men that I work with. 00:44:59.860 --> 00:45:00.180 Yeah. 00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:03.140 And it doesn't take long to figure out who's who. 00:45:03.380 --> 00:45:03.940 That's right. 00:45:04.180 --> 00:45:13.380 Uh you know, there were just some people you knew that if it was just you and them going in, you might not you might be the only one in there a while. 00:45:13.780 --> 00:45:14.340 That's right. 00:45:14.579 --> 00:45:17.860 So there's one more thing that that you told me that stuck with me. 00:45:17.940 --> 00:45:22.099 Um we're just progressing through the through this career. 00:45:22.900 --> 00:45:27.140 But you said I love my job, but you know when it's time to say goodbye. 00:45:27.380 --> 00:45:27.780 Yeah. 00:45:28.019 --> 00:45:40.900 Uh so for somebody who fought his way back into this profession after you went through that hiccup early and you believed it's a call in and and you built this career, how did you know when it was time to retire? 00:45:41.220 --> 00:45:42.660 Well, there's several ways. 00:45:42.820 --> 00:45:54.900 Um I had a pretty major heart attack in uh 2009, and at that time I was fifty-six, and I was planning on working till I was sixty. 00:45:55.059 --> 00:45:55.539 Yeah. 00:45:55.780 --> 00:46:00.099 Uh I was eligible to retire when I was fifty-eight. 00:46:00.260 --> 00:46:01.700 We had the rule of eighty. 00:46:02.260 --> 00:46:02.820 Yeah. 00:46:03.140 --> 00:46:10.579 And um, because that time I could cash in so much sick leave, so much annual leave, whatever. 00:46:10.900 --> 00:46:13.380 And uh I'd figured up about what that would be. 00:46:13.460 --> 00:46:16.260 Even after the heart attack, I still had a lot of sick leave left. 00:46:16.340 --> 00:46:19.539 But firefighting is actually a young man's game, really. 00:46:19.700 --> 00:46:20.019 Yeah. 00:46:20.260 --> 00:46:23.140 Uh and you can only stay s young so long. 00:46:23.380 --> 00:46:23.940 That's right. 00:46:24.180 --> 00:46:36.099 I did pretty good up till till that heart attack, and uh I noticed I was only out twenty-nine days because after 30 days you had to do a full physical agility test. 00:46:36.180 --> 00:46:36.660 Yeah. 00:46:36.900 --> 00:46:39.220 And at that time I was questioning myself. 00:46:39.380 --> 00:46:39.700 Yeah. 00:46:39.940 --> 00:46:50.099 Uh I've always had a trouble with my right knee from uh, I think 20 years old when I hit a car with my right knee and I was on a motorcycle. 00:46:50.740 --> 00:46:58.019 But your health becomes a concern and you realize, hey, I'm not doing this just like I used to. 00:46:58.180 --> 00:46:58.820 Yeah. 00:46:59.059 --> 00:47:02.660 And it's the kind of job where you can't afford not to be at your best. 00:47:02.980 --> 00:47:03.539 That's right. 00:47:03.860 --> 00:47:10.500 Because you're i first of all, you're putting yourself at risk, you're putting your team at risk and the public. 00:47:10.740 --> 00:47:10.900 Yeah. 00:47:11.220 --> 00:47:15.140 But um it began to weigh on me there. 00:47:15.619 --> 00:47:24.420 Well, Cobb came up with this plan that they were gonna pay people for early retirement and they were offering sixty-eight percent of

your last year's pay. 00:47:25.860 --> 00:47:33.539 And uh you had to apply before it started January 1st and ended April 30th of 2010. 00:47:33.860 --> 00:47:44.660 And I got to figuring that up and I thought I'm already diabetic, I've had a heart attack, I'm not able to do all the things I used to do the way I used to do 'em. 00:47:44.820 --> 00:47:45.220 Yeah. 00:47:45.460 --> 00:47:50.420 And uh I can take that money and do good things with it. 00:47:50.579 --> 00:47:56.740 And uh so between the incentive to leave and I like I said, I was already eligible to retire anyway. 00:47:56.820 --> 00:47:57.220 Yeah. 00:47:57.460 --> 00:48:01.380 It just it you know, I mean it you can tell. 00:48:01.539 --> 00:48:01.940 Yeah. 00:48:02.180 --> 00:48:05.700 But even I didn't r I didn't quit till I retired. 00:48:05.940 --> 00:48:06.180 Yeah. 00:48:06.420 --> 00:48:09.140 And I'd seen a lot of people do that and I wasn't gonna do that. 00:48:09.300 --> 00:48:09.539 Yeah. 00:48:09.700 --> 00:48:14.420 My chief asked me several times, says, Why don't you go to station six, which was a pretty slow station? 00:48:14.579 --> 00:48:17.940 I said, Why don't you leave me right here and we'll both be happy. 00:48:18.019 --> 00:48:18.260 Yeah. 00:48:18.420 --> 00:48:19.059 You know? 00:48:19.380 --> 00:48:24.740 And uh I just I didn't want to quit before I retired because I, like I said, I'd seen a lot of people do that. 00:48:24.820 --> 00:48:25.059 Yeah. 00:48:25.220 --> 00:48:26.420 And it didn't look good. 00:48:26.660 --> 00:48:27.140 That's right. 00:48:27.300 --> 00:48:31.700 And I didn't want to leave not looking good, but You talked about knees and stuff. 00:48:31.780 --> 00:48:35.460 Uh I'll be 46 next month, October. 00:48:35.700 --> 00:48:43.460 And I'm already seeing because we have tons of knees and shoulders, getting on and off truck so many times a day and all that stuff. 00:48:43.619 --> 00:48:48.420 And I don't want to be to the point where my plan is 55. 00:48:48.740 --> 00:48:49.059 Yeah. 00:48:49.539 --> 00:48:55.940 And I don't want to be to the point where when I retire, I'm just broke down and can't hardly walk. 00:48:56.019 --> 00:49:07.220 And I've uh I put in for a training job a couple years ago, um, and a captain got it, and he would she was better suited for that job than I was, and I'm glad he got it. 00:49:07.380 --> 00:49:27.619 But trying to set myself up so that when I hit 50 or so, um I'm still working, I'm still building my retirement, but I'm not necessarily climbing on and off truck every shift, and I can finish up still being beneficial to the department up until just like you said, you didn't want to quit before you retired. 00:49:27.940 --> 00:49:32.019 But I just I feel like 55 is young to retire. 00:49:32.180 --> 00:49:32.500 Yeah. 00:49:32.740 --> 00:49:37.140 And I don't want to be broke down even at that age when I retire. 00:49:37.460 --> 00:49:38.340 You're a smart man. 00:49:38.500 --> 00:49:40.019 Uh so that's the

plan. 00:49:40.180 --> 00:49:42.500 We'll uh we'll see how that plays out. 00:49:42.660 --> 00:49:44.099 We won't never really know. 00:49:44.820 --> 00:49:45.300 All right. 00:49:45.539 --> 00:49:47.940 So one more one more thing on this. 00:49:48.019 --> 00:49:49.700 So this is kind of post-retirement. 00:49:49.860 --> 00:49:54.980 So you've been you retired in 2010, so that was 16 years ago. 00:49:56.019 --> 00:50:05.380 Uh when you look back at the fire service from where you are today, what do you understand now that you couldn't see while you were in it? 00:50:05.700 --> 00:50:07.140 That is a good question. 00:50:07.300 --> 00:50:14.180 Um and this may not sound exactly right, but we we had a we had good pensions. 00:50:14.260 --> 00:50:16.820 Uh they had improved it over the years. 00:50:17.220 --> 00:50:20.420 And for some reason I've never been good at saving money. 00:50:20.500 --> 00:50:21.140 Yeah. 00:50:21.780 --> 00:50:24.340 And I've had to help with that, bless her heart. 00:50:24.820 --> 00:50:29.700 But uh the pension was a uh was a big thing and it's even bigger. 00:50:29.940 --> 00:50:47.460 And that would be one thing I would say to people that starting out, you know, if you can put more money in your pension some way, do that because your day when you realize that, hey, I can't do this the rest of my life, yeah, be here before you know it. 00:50:47.780 --> 00:50:50.740 The last five years I worked, man, it flew by. 00:50:50.820 --> 00:50:51.059 Yeah. 00:50:51.220 --> 00:50:57.780 I mean, the memories and and I I told a lot of recruits when they come to station, you need to keep a journal. 00:50:57.940 --> 00:50:58.260 Yeah. 00:50:58.500 --> 00:51:00.260 I wish so much I'd done that. 00:51:00.660 --> 00:51:04.099 I did that for quite a few years and then I kind of got slack on it. 00:51:04.260 --> 00:51:05.380 I wished I'd have kept doing it. 00:51:05.619 --> 00:51:11.300 Yeah, that's that's one thing I would press upon people, you know, because I forgot a lot of things. 00:51:11.380 --> 00:51:11.539 Yeah. 00:51:11.860 --> 00:51:17.619 A lot of things have stuck with me, still do, but and it it it shows where you were to where you come to. 00:51:17.860 --> 00:51:18.340 That's right. 00:51:18.579 --> 00:51:23.619 And uh but it's uh and it's just a work in progress. 00:51:23.780 --> 00:51:29.860 Uh I look back now and I've been out of it so long, I think I'm not sure if I could do that again. 00:51:30.019 --> 00:51:30.660 Yeah. 00:51:30.900 --> 00:51:38.660 I'd like to think I could, but I think as you get older you kind of mellow out, and some of the things I saw I wouldn't want to see again. 00:51:38.820 --> 00:51:39.140 Yeah. 00:51:39.380 --> 00:51:47.700 And I think humor is a crutch, and I I think most firefighters will agree with that, that some things you can't dwell on. 00:51:47.860 --> 00:51:48.420 That's right. 00:51:48.579 --> 00:51:51.460 Uh if you can learn from them, that's a plus. 00:51:51.860 --> 00:51:52.420 Yeah. 00:51:52.740 --> 00:51:53.780 We've talked about that. 00:51:53.860 --> 00:51:58.019 Like we'll run a really bad call and then we're we come back and we're at the table. 00:51:58.340 --> 00:52:03.780 And if somebody not in the fire service was sitting at that table, they would think, What is wrong with these people? 00:52:04.099 --> 00:52:04.340 Yeah. 00:52:04.500 --> 00:52:05.140 You're crazy. 00:52:05.300 --> 00:52:05.539 Yeah. 00:52:05.700 --> 00:52:06.420 You need help. 00:52:06.740 --> 00:52:07.140 Yeah. 00:52:07.460 --> 00:52:10.099 But it's uh it's just that coping mechanism. 00:52:10.340 --> 00:52:21.940 We talk about it, and and it can be the worst call you've ever run, and we may sit there and laugh about some part of it, but it's it's a way to deal with that and start moving forward. 00:52:22.500 --> 00:52:33.940 One thing that that comes to my mind right off the bat there, we we were on a a working fire, and uh supposedly people were trapped. 00:52:34.260 --> 00:52:43.140 As it progressed, we did a primary search, secondary search, and we thought you know, everything's good. 00:52:43.539 --> 00:52:53.059 Well, all of a sudden somebody the writ team or somebody went in to do something, they said, We've got a victim, we've got a victim. 00:52:53.300 --> 00:52:56.740 And everybody's saying, How in the world did we miss somebody? 00:52:57.140 --> 00:53:00.019 Because you know, you you try to do your best. 00:53:00.099 --> 00:53:12.180 Well, in the rush of getting we were we were in uh rehab at that time, cooling off, and uh all of a sudden the chief comes on and says, Bunker back up. 00:53:12.579 --> 00:53:14.420 We need another team in there. 00:53:14.660 --> 00:53:15.940 Well, I looked. 00:53:16.180 --> 00:53:18.900 Thank goodness it wasn't me, because we had a big laugh out of it. 00:53:19.380 --> 00:53:22.740 The guy had put his air pack on and then tried to put his coat on over it. 00:53:24.820 --> 00:53:31.059 But uh the the fire service was I could not have asked for a better job. 00:53:31.140 --> 00:53:31.460 Yeah. 00:53:31.700 --> 00:53:33.700 I could have asked for a higher paying job. 00:53:33.860 --> 00:53:34.500 Oh yeah. 00:53:34.740 --> 00:53:43.380 But uh considering when I went back to work in 75, I think the annual salary for a firefighter was 15,343. 00:53:43.780 --> 00:53:44.260 Wow. 00:53:44.500 --> 00:53:48.900 I made that the first three months that year that I worked for the railroad. 00:53:49.059 --> 00:53:49.619 Yeah. 00:53:49.860 --> 00:53:54.180 But except for the last two years I worked, we always got a raise every year. 00:53:54.340 --> 00:53:54.660 Yeah. 00:53:54.900 --> 00:53:56.099 It was amazing. 00:53:56.340 --> 00:54:02.980 Yeah, we we went a few years and didn't have one, but for the most part, we get raises. 00:54:03.619 --> 00:54:07.380 And from the pay side of it, you know there's a check coming. 00:54:07.539 --> 00:54:08.019 Oh yeah. 00:54:08.260 --> 00:54:14.340 Like we both were in

construction and it's dependent on weather and material and all this different stuff. 00:54:14.420 --> 00:54:24.420 And I I made really good money in construction, but then I may go two weeks and it just be, you know, I may not get make nothing. 00:54:24.900 --> 00:54:25.140 Yeah. 00:54:25.380 --> 00:54:29.539 So while we don't make a ton of money in the fire service, we know that check's there. 00:54:30.099 --> 00:54:33.860 Uh, and that that stability is a big a big thing. 00:54:34.019 --> 00:54:34.660 Yeah. 00:54:35.140 --> 00:54:35.539 All right. 00:54:35.619 --> 00:54:43.220 So we do this little section called Faith and Fire, and we'll talk about a Bible verse, and we'll just go through this and how it relates. 00:54:43.300 --> 00:54:49.619 And um, so there's another part of your story that connects directly to something that that you said earlier about it being a calling. 00:54:49.780 --> 00:54:51.220 We've mentioned that a couple of times. 00:54:51.460 --> 00:54:58.099 And you told me that after you got saved, you began to recognize that one of the ways God had equipped you was through service. 00:54:58.420 --> 00:55:03.059 Uh there's a verse that made me think of that, and it's Mark 10, 45. 00:55:03.380 --> 00:55:10.820 For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. 00:55:10.980 --> 00:55:20.099 Um when you look back at your career now, do you see the fire service different through the lens of your faith than you did when you first got into it? 00:55:20.500 --> 00:55:21.460 Absolutely. 00:55:21.700 --> 00:55:22.500 Absolutely. 00:55:22.740 --> 00:55:25.780 You see people having the worst time of their life. 00:55:25.940 --> 00:55:26.420 Yeah. 00:55:26.660 --> 00:55:34.500 And if you can do something to lift them up, give them hope for the future, for tomorrow even, you're blessed to be able to do that. 00:55:34.820 --> 00:55:35.619 That's right. 00:55:35.940 --> 00:55:36.900 We run a call. 00:55:36.980 --> 00:55:41.059 I hadn't I had only been in a year or so. 00:55:41.140 --> 00:55:42.500 I was still pretty new. 00:55:42.740 --> 00:55:49.780 Uh, and a lady had pulled up to an apartment complex and there was the keypad where you punch in the code and then you go through the gate. 00:55:50.019 --> 00:55:58.820 Well, she pulled up and she couldn't reach the keypad, so she opened her door and she put her leg out to reach over and put the code in. 00:55:59.059 --> 00:56:01.059 We shouldn't put her car in park. 00:56:01.380 --> 00:56:07.460 And when she did that, her car rolled forward and it pushed the door up against her leg, broke her leg. 00:56:07.860 --> 00:56:10.019 Uh so we had to get the car off. 00:56:10.099 --> 00:56:12.180 We used our bags and stuff, and it worked really well. 00:56:12.340 --> 00:56:15.700 But during that process, she was in the car by herself. 00:56:15.780 --> 00:56:24.019 I got in the passenger seat and I was just talking to her while they were um moving the car and getting her leg out and stuff, and prayed with her in the car. 00:56:24.260 --> 00:56:26.260 Nothing in myself. 00:56:26.420 --> 00:56:28.180 She asked, she said, Will you pray with me? 00:56:28.260 --> 00:56:30.019 And I said, Yeah, absolutely I will. 00:56:30.340 --> 00:56:58.180 Um, but being able to do that, and there's other situations too where my faith has helped me through certain situations in the fire service, whether it's praying with somebody or sharing something with them, because we have and unfortunately, there's a line between and and it shouldn't be this way, sharing your faith and doing your job, and it's a government job and it's it's weird. 00:56:58.260 --> 00:57:02.019 But when you get down to it, I'm gonna share it anyway. 00:57:02.260 --> 00:57:08.019 I've got a I've got an obligation to do that because of my faith. 00:57:08.180 --> 00:57:16.420 Um I'm not gonna push it on anybody, but if somebody asks, yeah, I'm gonna pray with them or talk to them or whatever the case is. 00:57:16.660 --> 00:57:25.539 But being able to do that, that's that's been a big part of my fire service career is my faith and being able to share. 00:57:25.780 --> 00:57:33.619 And there's people on our crew, we had a guy a couple years ago who was I think he referred to himself as agnostic. 00:57:33.700 --> 00:57:37.220 He believes there's something out there somewhere, but he's not really sure what it is. 00:57:37.539 --> 00:57:38.420 Guarantee him there is. 00:57:38.579 --> 00:57:39.860 Yeah, absolutely there is. 00:57:40.019 --> 00:57:42.500 And we had some real and he knows the Bible. 00:57:42.579 --> 00:57:44.660 He may know the Bible better than I do. 00:57:44.980 --> 00:58:01.380 Uh grew up in church, was hurt and pushed away, and but having the opportunity to sit down and talk to him, and we're still he's left fire service, but we're still really good friends because we could sit down and talk about those things. 00:58:01.539 --> 00:58:05.300 Uh so I think it is a huge part of our our identity. 00:58:05.460 --> 00:58:07.059 We've talked about identity before. 00:58:07.220 --> 00:58:14.500 Mine, a lot of times we think our identity is fire service, but at some point we're gonna retire. 00:58:14.980 --> 00:58:18.660 And our identity has to be something bigger than just that. 00:58:19.059 --> 00:58:24.260 Fire service is something we do while we're here, but it's got to be bigger than that. 00:58:24.579 --> 00:58:35.300 So I always hope that my identity is in the Lord and what he wants me to do and everything else is just uh it's just something I'm doing while I'm here, if that makes sense. 00:58:35.619 --> 00:58:38.180 Kind of got off the rails on that one a little bit. 00:58:38.420 --> 00:58:39.539 But that's all right. 00:58:39.780 --> 00:58:41.619 You retired from the fire service. 00:58:41.860 --> 00:58:45.220 Did did service retire with you? 00:58:45.940 --> 00:58:46.900 Uh no. 00:58:47.300 --> 00:58:47.619 No.

00:58:48.019 --> 00:58:56.740 Um and I I believe if if service is one of your spiritual gifts, you'll be a servant wherever you're at. 00:58:56.980 --> 00:58:57.539 That's right. 00:58:57.700 --> 00:59:05.860 Uh I was a deacon at our former church for like twenty years, and uh we were assigned different families. 00:59:06.180 --> 00:59:06.500 Yeah. 00:59:06.740 --> 00:59:13.780 And uh we were supposed to keep in touch with them and see if there's needs that they had that we could meet or the church could meet. 00:59:14.019 --> 00:59:19.460 And I don't I don't believe you ever or at least I don't feel like you could leave your calling. 00:59:19.619 --> 00:59:19.780 Yeah. 00:59:20.099 --> 00:59:24.980 If if you you if you have a gift of service you'll use it. 00:59:25.059 --> 00:59:27.140 Uh like here at Victory. 00:59:27.300 --> 00:59:31.860 Um me and my wife both work in the food pantry. 00:59:31.940 --> 00:59:32.180 Yeah. 00:59:32.420 --> 00:59:33.940 Which is a blessing to a lot of people. 00:59:34.099 --> 00:59:34.660 Yeah, it's sure. 00:59:34.900 --> 00:59:35.059 Sure. 00:59:35.140 --> 00:59:41.220 A lot of people hurting and and it seems like the s the spectrum is wider now. 00:59:41.380 --> 00:59:43.059 The haves and the have nots. 00:59:43.460 --> 00:59:43.780 Yeah. 00:59:44.019 --> 00:59:45.300 It's it's amazing. 00:59:45.539 --> 00:59:46.260 That's right. 00:59:46.579 --> 00:59:51.059 But it's it's a blessing to help people anytime you can, any way you can. 00:59:51.300 --> 00:59:51.860 That's right. 00:59:52.019 --> 00:59:53.380 That's what we should do. 00:59:53.700 --> 00:59:57.860 All right, so I've got one for you that uh I don't want you to answer this quickly. 00:59:58.180 --> 00:59:58.420 Okay. 00:59:58.900 --> 01:00:02.740 Um so imagine there's an empty chair. 01:00:03.140 --> 01:00:06.660 And you can put one firefighter from your career in that chair. 01:00:06.820 --> 01:00:16.900 It could be somebody that you hadn't seen in years, or maybe they've passed away already, or a friend or a mentor, anybody that that left a mark on you, who would you put in that chair? 01:00:17.220 --> 01:00:18.260 Oh wow. 01:00:19.940 --> 01:00:21.460 And I've just got one chair. 01:00:21.860 --> 01:00:22.980 It's just one chair, sorry. 01:00:23.059 --> 01:00:25.059 That's all that's all I brought with me. 01:00:25.380 --> 01:00:25.619 Okay. 01:00:25.940 --> 01:00:29.220 Well, and this is out of my fire service career, right? 01:00:29.460 --> 01:00:32.340 I i i i it can be out of your life. 01:00:32.579 --> 01:00:33.140 Oh wow. 01:00:33.380 --> 01:00:36.340 Somebody who has been the biggest influence. 01:00:36.740 --> 01:00:39.140 Okay, since you put it that way, it's pretty easy. 01:00:39.300 --> 01:00:41.380 And I'll try not to get choked up. 01:00:41.619 --> 01:00:54.420 Um my father-in-law uh discovered he had lung cancer in uh golly, I guess it was in 1976, maybe. 01:00:55.460 --> 01:00:57.700 Uh we didn't have any children yet. 01:00:57.860 --> 01:01:03.539 And uh he was a Marine, served in World War II. 01:01:04.500 --> 01:01:15.539 Uh he had, I think he told me, an eighth grade education but he was one of the few people that got chewed out if the Atlanta Journal and Constitution didn't come out on time. 01:01:15.700 --> 01:01:18.740 He was lead foreman in the composing room. 01:01:18.980 --> 01:01:22.740 But uh when he got sick I never heard him complain. 01:01:23.059 --> 01:01:23.380 Yeah. 01:01:23.860 --> 01:01:30.980 Um they gave him when they first found out that he had lung cancer, they gave him six months. 01:01:31.220 --> 01:01:31.619 Yeah. 01:01:31.860 --> 01:01:33.140 Which ain't a long time. 01:01:33.380 --> 01:01:34.099 That's right. 01:01:34.500 --> 01:01:42.500 But it was a little over seven years before he finally lost that battle won that battle, I'll put it that way. 01:01:42.740 --> 01:01:43.059 There you go. 01:01:43.140 --> 01:01:43.380 Yeah. 01:01:43.619 --> 01:01:51.140 Um But the whole time I I saw him lose his hair three times, it came back thicker and darker. 01:01:51.300 --> 01:01:56.019 He looked like somebody got a hold of him with the chains home both sides where they'd done surgeries. 01:01:56.099 --> 01:01:56.579 Yeah. 01:01:56.740 --> 01:02:07.539 Uh he'd do all the chemotherapy they they could come up with at the time, and the doctor would say, if you got something you want to do that you never done and you got the money to do it, go do it. 01:02:08.340 --> 01:02:10.019 And he just had that attitude. 01:02:10.099 --> 01:02:11.220 He was a fighter. 01:02:11.940 --> 01:02:17.619 And uh somebody he he said, somebody asked him, Do you ever say why me? 01:02:17.780 --> 01:02:19.860 And he said, Why not me? 01:02:20.099 --> 01:02:20.420 Yeah. 01:02:20.579 --> 01:02:21.619 What am I? 01:02:21.860 --> 01:02:24.900 He said, God's been better in me than I'll ever be able to pay back. 01:02:25.460 --> 01:02:26.500 And that stuck with me. 01:02:26.660 --> 01:02:34.579 He uh My daddy taught me a lot about living and my daddy-in-law taught me a lot about dying. 01:02:34.740 --> 01:02:35.140 Yeah. 01:02:35.380 --> 01:02:41.700 And now the fact that I've been diagnosed with lung and throat cancer, it's I still don't believe it. 01:02:41.860 --> 01:02:45.460 I mean, I just I'm not gonna die till I till I die. 01:02:45.619 --> 01:02:45.780 Yeah. 01:02:45.940 --> 01:02:47.059 I won't live till I die. 01:02:47.300 --> 01:02:47.860 There you go. 01:02:48.019 --> 01:02:55.619 And uh he was pretty much my hero because he was uh he was a spiritual man, but he wa he was a fighter. 01:02:55.780 --> 01:02:56.260 Yeah. 01:02:57.860 --> 01:03:01.700 All right, so if he was sitting in that chair right now, what would you tell him? 01:03:02.019 --> 01:03:02.820 Thank you. 01:03:03.539 --> 01:03:04.019 Good deal. 01:03:04.260 --> 01:03:05.539 For a lot of things. 01:03:05.780 --> 01:03:14.980 Uh his daughter and just his willingness to live, you know, man, that's good stuff.

01:03:16.180 --> 01:03:18.180 All right, I got one more question for you. 01:03:18.420 --> 01:03:19.940 I think you said that before, haven't you? 01:03:20.579 --> 01:03:21.140 I think I have. 01:03:24.740 --> 01:03:27.619 So I want to finish where we started, January 75. 01:03:27.860 --> 01:03:35.619 So young man about to walk into the fire station for the first time, thinks he's found a job, doesn't know he's gonna lose it. 01:03:35.780 --> 01:03:40.820 This is before that that little hiccup, and he don't know it's gonna take eleven years to get back to it. 01:03:41.059 --> 01:03:43.780 So you got five minutes with that guy. 01:03:44.420 --> 01:03:45.860 What do you tell him? 01:03:47.059 --> 01:03:48.980 Hang on, it's gonna get better. 01:03:50.180 --> 01:03:52.579 You won't believe how much better it'll get. 01:03:53.140 --> 01:03:54.900 Yeah, that's that's good advice. 01:03:55.140 --> 01:03:56.820 Stick it out, stay with it. 01:03:58.420 --> 01:04:06.099 So anything else, open discussion, anything else that you want to get out that you want to say, you have the floor. 01:04:06.579 --> 01:04:19.619 Well uh uh if if somebody's hearing this that is considering a fire service, I would say pray about it because it can it can be the best job you've ever had or it could be a dead end for you. 01:04:19.700 --> 01:04:19.940 Yeah. 01:04:20.099 --> 01:04:26.579 But if you uh do decide that you're calling, put your all into it. 01:04:26.900 --> 01:04:27.380 That's right. 01:04:27.780 --> 01:04:34.340 Uh don't find yourself having to apologize for something you didn't do or something you didn't learn. 01:04:34.820 --> 01:04:36.740 And learn all you can while you can. 01:04:37.059 --> 01:04:37.539 There you go. 01:04:37.700 --> 01:04:38.420 That's that is good. 01:04:38.740 --> 01:04:43.460 I mean that's that's one of the things I miss about the job is constant learning. 01:04:43.619 --> 01:04:43.940 Yeah. 01:04:44.500 --> 01:04:46.579 Uh I miss going to classes. 01:04:46.900 --> 01:04:51.619 Uh but just put your all into it. 01:04:52.180 --> 01:04:56.019 You'll you'll you'll never put more in than you get back if you do it right. 01:04:56.420 --> 01:04:57.300 That is right. 01:04:59.059 --> 01:04:59.700 All right. 01:04:59.860 --> 01:05:02.019 Well, Rick, I appreciate you coming on. 01:05:02.180 --> 01:05:05.619 It has been a fantastic episode. 01:05:05.860 --> 01:05:06.900 Well, I appreciate it. 01:05:06.980 --> 01:05:09.860 I I appreciate the the invitation. 01:05:10.180 --> 01:05:10.579 Absolutely. 01:05:10.820 --> 01:05:12.180 And you're doing a great job, by the way. 01:05:12.420 --> 01:05:13.380 Well, I appreciate that. 01:05:13.460 --> 01:05:19.140 I I enjoy doing it, but if if it helps somebody, that's goes back to that service. 01:05:19.220 --> 01:05:20.500 That's what it's all about. 01:05:20.820 --> 01:05:26.980 Uh so there's something about your story I think reaches beyond the fire service because you needed a job and you lost it. 01:05:27.140 --> 01:05:31.380 And sometimes it takes losing something to appreciate it more. 01:05:32.180 --> 01:05:35.619 Uh and luckily you made it back to that and it all worked out. 01:05:35.780 --> 01:05:37.860 But then came the other side of it. 01:05:37.940 --> 01:05:42.740 So after fighting back and building a career, you eventually had to recognize it was time to say goodbye to it. 01:05:42.900 --> 01:05:46.500 Uh for everybody watching and listening, I want to leave you with one question. 01:05:46.660 --> 01:05:51.300 So, who is the firefighter from an older generation who helped shape you? 01:05:51.460 --> 01:05:54.340 Uh, tell us who they are and what they taught you in the comments. 01:05:54.420 --> 01:06:02.740 And if somebody came to mind while Rick was talking, send this episode to them while you still have the opportunity to tell them what they meant to you. 01:06:02.900 --> 01:06:08.260 And we've talked about this a lot too, because our crew, a lot of people think it's weird. 01:06:08.420 --> 01:06:10.900 Um, but we tell each other that we love each other. 01:06:11.220 --> 01:06:15.619 Typically at shift change in the morning, we're all leaving, we'll say, Hey, bye, I love you. 01:06:15.780 --> 01:06:21.860 And a lot of people think that's weird, but tell people what they mean to you while you can still tell them. 01:06:22.099 --> 01:06:32.099 There's so many people in my life that I I did tell them, but once they passed away, I really wanted them to know how I felt, and it was too late. 01:06:32.340 --> 01:06:34.660 So tell people while you still can. 01:06:35.140 --> 01:06:40.900 Um, again, Rick, thank you for sitting down with me, and I hope we can do this again at some point in the future. 01:06:41.460 --> 01:06:42.340 I'm more than willing. 01:06:42.500 --> 01:06:43.780 I know you got tons of stories. 01:06:44.099 --> 01:06:44.900 You hear that siren? 01:06:45.059 --> 01:06:46.500 There's a siren going by right now. 01:06:46.579 --> 01:06:48.500 We're wondering what you're going to. 01:06:52.019 --> 01:06:53.619 All right, so I'm Lieutenant Dotson. 01:06:53.780 --> 01:06:54.900 This has been One on the Cue. 01:06:55.059 --> 01:06:56.099 Take care of your crew. 01:06:56.260 --> 01:07:00.820 Honor the people who helped you along the way, and leave the fire service better than you found.