It goes from 0 to 60, like that.

Last night, those guys were sitting in a chair.

Here, take the rest.

And then all of a sudden, boom.

You're just gone for hours.

We were dispatched for a single-family dwelling, reported fire in the basement.

I'm not really sure what sparked my interest in the fire department, but I remember my first structural burn session, and we were doing an acquired structure burn.

That building was intentionally set on fire for training with a guy who's actually a police officer now.

I just followed him, and just from that moment on, I just got hooked for some reason.

I really don't know what it was, but I never looked back.

It's stressful.

It's hard sometimes.

But I really can't see my life any differently.

There's a lot going on.

You need to be aware of a lot that's happening around you, and you need to rely on your buddies to make sure that you're safe.

We have station chores.

We live here, so obviously we need to keep the place clean.

There's training involved.

Every day we try to learn something.

You should learn something every day.

Checking the equipment, everything needs to be checked every day.

Make sure your air packs are ready.

Make sure all your water tanks are filled in your engines.

Make sure you have fuel.

That's a daily task.

You'll notice the guys are always looking up at the screen on the wall.

That screen connects into the 911 center.

All the calls pop up for service.

So we kind of get a little bit of a head start sometimes when we see it pop up there.

So you'll notice that every time something happens, you're always looking at the screen.

Here we do between 850 and 950 calls a year.

From the volunteer side of things, typically you would join your local fire department in the municipality you live in and start your training.

The training today is intense.

It's long, but it's required.

If you want to do this as a career, typically the civil service test is a written test, a physical agility test, and then an interview.

And if you pass all three components successfully, you're on that list.

And then if a job opens up, you might have to go away to a fire academy.

Or if you have all those required certifications when you get hired, some agencies just do some on-the-job training, and then you're on your shift.

If you have a story or a moment or a fire that you remember more than any others, is there one that's just, wow, this was... Yeah.

The one that no one will ever forget in this town was March 15, 1993.

We had Captain Lombardo from the fire department and Firefighter Insulaco from West Pittston fell through the floor.

And they ended up dying in that fire.

That's something we'll never forget.

It's the risk you take.

We understand that.

I understood that when I went into the basement of that house last night, that that's the risk we take.

But that one hurts.

And it always will.

There's a lot of great parts about it.

I mean, just the guys, hanging out with the guys upstairs in the morning, shift change.

I mean, let's face it, we get to drive pretty cool trucks.

The overall, we typically don't meet people on their best days.

It's their worst day.

And if we can make their day a little bit better, then that's very rewarding.

I mean, nobody's getting rich being a fireman, but we have a very competitive wage.

We have an excellent health care plan, a great benefit package, and we have a retirement plan.

It's like a family.

Like, literally a family for most of us here.

We're a small fire department, but it's not just a literal family.

It's a family.

Literally all nine of us will do anything for any one of their families here.

It's a great job.

It is a great job.

It's hard sometimes, but I really can't see my life any differently.