FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- As the call comes in, they move quickly through the fire house, putting on 60 pounds of protective gear as they jump into the fire truck known as Ladder 5. Arriving on site, each firefighter has a job to do. Exiting Ladder 5 they begin to survey the scene, connect the hose to the fire hydrant, check pressure gauges and extend the ladder.
In just minutes, a firefighter and the fire captain have made it to the top of the ladder and begin to maneuver the water-filled hose. It takes both of them to stay steady at the top of the ladder as they control gallons of water rushing out of the 100-pound-per-square-inch automatic nozzle.
While this is only a drill, this four-man crew will be ready to serve the community when disaster strikes.
"We only come to help, that's the nice thing about my job," said Capt. Darin Davis, Fire Station 1.
Davis did not know he would one day be a firefighter. After graduating high school, he joined the Army and became a Forward Observer.
After three years Davis decided to get out of the Army, but quickly learned his combat arms job had no civilian counterpart, so he talked to a recruiter about the Army Reserves, and was told he could be a firefighter.
"So, I came off of active duty, I went to one semester of college, and then went to the fire academy … and joined my reserve unit," he said. "I drilled with them one weekend a month … I joined a volunteer fire department, started going on calls and getting experience."
The more involved Davis became, the more he realized he had a passion for being a firefighter. He decided to do it full-time, but the job market was tough. Fortunately, he was mobilized as an active duty firefighter and sent to Fort Campbell.
After two years as a Reserve firefighter, he applied for a government service position and was hired by Fort Campbell Fire and Emergency services. Fifteen years later Davis still loves the anticipation of his job.
"At any given time, those tones could go off … to an infant having a seizure, to a car wreck, an automatic alarm, smoke in the house, a house on fire … to a paratrooper stuck in a tree, Davis said. "Anything could happen."
And, no matter what happens, Davis said the Fort Campbell firefighters would be ready to answer that call.
"When you call and you need us, you need us right now and you don't need four firefighters," he said. "You need like four rocket scientists to get off that truck to figure out and solve your problem no matter what it is."
Four-man crew jobs
Every four-man crew has a fire captain. While the three firefighters get the hose hooked up to the hydrant, prepare the ladder and keep an eye on the gauges, the fire captain surveys the fire.
"I am walking around, sizing it up and seeing what's going on," Davis said. "I'm making sure we aren't kicking in somebody's door only to realize there is a barbecue grill on fire out back."
After the fire captain assesses the situation, a firefighter will take the lead on the hose and enter the building. The fire captain is always behind the lead firefighter, helping him man the hose.
While the firefighter and the fire captain take the lead, the driver has the most difficult position, Davis said. The driver keeps an eye on the gauges and ensures everything is in working order.
"[The fire captain], the hydrant man and the firefighter, we are all working doing something else and the driver is all alone," said Davis. "If he has any sort of pump malfunction, truck malfunction or a water malfunction, he has to figure that all out by himself."
Each crew also has a "hydrant man," which is usually manned by the newest firefighter on the crew. This firefighter is responsible for establishing a water supply to the hydrant. Once the hose has been attached to the hydrant, the "hydrant man" ensures the hose is being fed to the firefighter and fire captain who are in the building.
One of the newer firefighters on the crew, Mike Mikesell, Fire Station 1, has served as the crew's "hydrant man" on many occasions. Mikesell refers to himself as a cliché since he knew he would be a firefighter before he began Kindergarten.
Mikesell attended two years of college, served more than two years as an Air Force firefighter and then joined Fort Campbell's fire and emergency services in 2012.
"The best thing -- I mean its super cliche just like me becoming a firefighter -- is helping people," Mikesell said when asked what he liked the most about being a firefighter. "I'm already a helpful person anyways."
Mikesell said the hardest part of the job are the long hours firefighters put in at the station.
"We are here a lot ... You miss a lot of stuff," he said. "Paul Morgan [Fire Station 1 firefighter] … his daughter has a softball game tomorrow, he's only going to make half of those. He will only be at half the birthdays, half the Christmas'."
Mikesell said he always tries to work Christmas so that his fellow firefighters can be home with their Families.
"That's probably the worst part, but we still have the best job in the world," he said.
Shift Work
Fort Campbell firefighters work 48-hour shifts followed by 72 hours off. Once they get to the station for their shift, they don't leave until it's time to clock out. This means they eat all their meals, shower, exercise and sleep at the station while they are on duty.
At the beginning of each shift, they check the equipment to make sure everything is in working order. On Mondays, they check each piece of equipment on the fire truck to make sure everything works properly.
During the day, when they are not responding to emergency calls, they train.
At the end of the day, oftentimes they cook dinner together. The camaraderie between crew members is something Paul Morgan, Fire Station 1 firefighter, enjoys the most about his job, he said.
Morgan grew up an Army brat, but calls Clarksville home because he graduated from Northeast High School. After graduation, Morgan joined the Air Force to become a firefighter.
"I went down and talked to a recruiter and he told me they had [firefighter] jobs in the Air Force … they guaranteed me the job," Morgan said.
After four years, Morgan got out of the Air Force and served as a firefighter in Alaska for three years before he landed a job back at Fort Campbell. He enjoys serving the Fort Campbell community because it is unique, he said.
"Our Soldiers are deployed a lot … so with the kids and teaching them fire drills, that was maybe their dad's role, he showed them how to crawl out of the house, so we get to do that kind of stuff," Morgan said.
Becoming a firefighter
Becoming a firefighter is not easy. Many career firefighters have some kind of volunteer or military firefighting experience. Also, they must meet the qualifications required of firefighters which include Emergency Medical Technician certification, Firefighter 1 and 2 certifications, and Hazardous Materials Technician certification.
Most fire departments have a physical testing requirement and every firefighter is required to complete a minimum 110-hour National Fire Protection Association training.
In 2013, Ryan Harrell had no training or experience as a firefighter. He had served as a heavy equipment operator in the Navy and then served as a Fort Campbell gate guard.
At the time, many of the gate guard positions were going away, so Fort Campbell's fire and emergency services opened five positions for anyone with aspirations of becoming a firefighter. Harrell decided this was something he wanted to do.
"I applied for it … four of us came over and then they picked up one guy who was being separated from the Army, so over the course of last year they took us from nothing to fully certified," Harrell said.
Harrell said becoming a firefighter was an answered prayer.
"What we do, is exactly what I enjoy doing, I just hadn't fit firefighter into that … I just wanted to stay active, help people and do something with my hands and not be stuck in an office," he said.
The best thing about being a firefighter, Harrell said is his ability to make the decision of how much he wants to learn.
"Every emergency is different. Every call that we go on is different in its own way," he said. "You have every opportunity to continue to excel and learn about your job and your profession.
Rules of a firefighter
Firefighters have a "two in, two out" rule, which means that two firefighters will go into a building to fight the fire, and two firefighters will stay out of the building on scene.
"For every firefighter that goes in, there has to be one outside. Technically we have two outside, but the driver isn't really ready to go because he doesn't have his air pack on, so usually we wait for another fire truck to come," Davis said.
However, there are two scenarios that allow the firefighters to violate this "two in, two out" rule. "One, there is a confirmed rescue, so if we know somebody is in that house, we go in," Davis said. "If it's a confirmed rescue, we don't even pull hose … we just go in … we are in there searching."
The second scenario which allows firefighters to break the "two in, two out" rule, is if the fire has just started.
"A perfect example of this is if someone was cooking on the stove and now the cabinets are just starting to catch on fire," Davis said. "The fire is still in its growth phase, it's just now starting, so we can go in and extinguish the fire because it is not a huge hazard at that time."
When an entire house or multiple rooms are on fire, they have to wait for additional help to ensure the safety of the firefighters.
"By the time we walk around and see what's going on … usually there is another truck pulling up and when they pull up, we are ready to go in," Davis said.
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