A day in the life with Huntsville Fire and Rescue is unpredictable, but before putting their lives on the line to save others comes morning duties.
“We start out every morning the same way. We start by cleaning up the trucks checking, cleaning all the equipment and making sure everything is in order and ready to go when the alarms do go off,” says Driver Engineer Nathan Reed.
“This morning we were sitting there eating breakfast and you don’t have time to do anything you are gone. They get on the truck and they are gone,” says Captain Frank McKenzie.
Gone is right. They are in their turnout gear within one minute and on the location site within three to four minutes.
“Sometimes butterflies are in your stomach you don’t know what you are going to see and training kind of takes over and you just do your job,” says Driver Engineer Charles Dennis.
While they do fight fires, the majority of their calls are actually medical calls.
Every minute that goes by is a 10 percent less survival rate, and with 19 stations throughout Huntsville they can arrive to a scene a lot faster.
“It doesn’t matter what you are doing when you are here when the tones go off you have to drop everything and get on the truck,” says Captain Garnet Jones.
“There is no telling what you are going to hear coming over the intercom when they turn you out,” says Dennis.
In the midst of responding to calls they are also required to do a minimum of 2 hour training each day whether its at the station, online or at another location.
Huntsville Fire and Rescue members are on the go year round. They work 8 am until 8 pm the next morning with 48 hours off sometimes getting up multiple times in the night.
“I tell people to set your alarm, set it again to go off at 3, then set it again to go off at 5… that’s what its like to be a firefighter,” McKenzie adds.
A third of their life is spent at the station, and they sacrifice missing family events and holidays.
It’s hard to be away from the kids, like tonight my son had baseball practice tonight and I missed it. It is little things like that that you don’t get back, but I realized that when I signed up for the job,” says Reed.
With those long hours comes a second family.
“It is a brother hood. I spend more waking hours with these guys than I do my family. I am here for 24 hours and even though I am off for 48 hours… my little boy is in school, my wife is at work, so I spend more time with these guys than I do my own family,” says Driver Engineer Keith Casteel.
These men and women are the ones picking up the pieces on whatever the scene may be and unfortunately, post traumatic stress is very common with this job.
“We see a lot of bad stuff. We go to car wrecks, medical calls, shootings, stabbings and in your career you will see a lot of bad things and those will play roles. They can play tricks on your mind,” says McKenzie.
“The hard part about it is when you see the things that you can’t get out of your head, and you don’t carry it with you for that day… you carry it with you for the rest of your life. I think that’s what some people don’t really understand is the things that you see and do… they shape who you become,” says Dennis.
“It does change your outlook on stuff especially because I have a son now. I will hold him a little longer at night and it is harder to leave in the mornings than it used to be,” Casteel adds.
Although they don’t know what each day will bring, their passion to serve the community remains the same.
“We have the opportunity to see people at their worst, to see people at their best and we get paid to help people. It is just the most fabulous job ever. We can help people in their time of need and be the calming presence,” says Jones.
If you are interested in becoming a firefighter Huntsville Fire and Rescue is holding its first informational meeting in June. They will give more in depth information about their positions. WZDX will update the date when we receive more information.
