Why firefighting?

I grew up in a small town with a volunteer fire department.  My best friend and many of my other friends were all firefighters.  I never joined because I went to school in Boston and I didn't stop moving around for six years.

Finally my wife and I settled down on a farm in western MA.  I took the opportunity to sign up with a call fire department.  I took a 180 hour class taught by the Mass. Fire Academy.  I became a state certified firefighter.  Meanwhile I had been on with the fire company for over a year and I discovered I wanted to do more on our medical calls so I became an EMT.

Over the last six months I have been trying to decide what I really want to do.  While going to school to pursue a degree in social work I couldn't shake my desire to do more with the fire service.  As I learned more about what it takes to become a career firefighter, I realized I would need to focus more of my time on it.

I love the excitement and immediacy of firefighting.  It feels great to help someone in an emergency situation.  To look at an injury or a set of symptoms and be able to help a person is very satisfying.  There is always a challenge in firefighting and the job is never the same.  I wont be able to say I'm bored.

This is class 14, my call/volunteer class that prepared me for the FF I/II certification