November 2019 Rig of the Month: Firemedic831
BEFORE:
AFTER:
We'd like to congratulate Firemedic831 for having the November 2019 Rig of the Month! And this month we are going to try something different by posting the questions to the interview with Firemedic831 throughout the month instead of all at once!
Hayden: Tell us a bit about yourself (Family/pets, work/school, hobbies/interests, location, etc.)
Firemedic831: About me Hmm were would i start lol . My name is Jeff and i grew up in the Bay Area . I have 2 wonderful Kids , My son Zak and daughter Alyssa . Both still live in Florida . I moved to Florida when i turned 21 and pursued my Racing career . At the time i worked for Yamaha and raced Motocross . I also did construction work to help pay for my racing . One day i was driving and just thought to myself i am tired of chasing checks from people and i was going to get a normal job and i had always wanted to be a Firefighter , Not sure why because i knew nothing about it In fact i had never even been in a Fire station . I honestly did not know how to even become one . So i went down to the Collage and signed up for EMT class And by luck a class was starting the next day . After about 2 weeks of class and me not having a single clue What they were talking about in class I stayed after one day and talked to the teacher . She explained to me most if not all in the class were Firefighters and that to get a job you had to be Duel certified ? She also explained to me what some of the things meant like COPD ALS ect ect . . She told me that you had to get sponsored to get into a Fire Academy and that a Fire Dept has to do that . I left there that day in a fog but went straight to the City Fire Dept . That day was the first time i had ever step foot into a Fire Station . Long story short , 6 months after that day i was already into a Fire academy ( That SUCKED ) i was the President of the Florida state VOL Fire Fighters and i had graduated with the highest grade in the EMT class . 1 year to the day of stepping foot into that station i was Hired as a Full time career Firefighter . I tested against 378 others and was actually 3rd on the list but was picked over the other top 2 . 1.5 years later i was the youngest and fastest Firefighter in that departments history to make the rank of Lieutenant . I had taken a bunch of classes that to me were Fun like High Angle Rescue , Confined Space Rescue , Water Rescue , and trained my dog in water Rescue and she actually worked for the FD . Then BOOM 9-11 i was just getting off shift and driving home when i heard on the radio and my pager went off . 18 hours later i was at Ground Zero . My dog ( Tally ) and i along with 1 other was sent up since i had confined space rescue training . There is a big difference in going to school for a week and the dealing with what had happened . After that my career kinda got fast tracked . F.E.M.A. made what is called F.I.T. ( first in teams ) there are 5 in the US and when big things happen a team gets deployed to go in first and get things sorted . I was chosen to Lead a team . I was able to cross train in all sorts of things like working with gas companies , water plants , DOT , Counter Intell , Haz Mat ect ect . You name it i was trained in it . There are alot of things that happen in this world thats all i can say about that . I put in 20 years and retired , that lasted about a year I moved to Oregon to be close to my family again and i really liked the area . I built a log cabin for my parents friends and things kinda grew from there . I was offered a job to run the So Oregon division for a Portland based building company . I stopped racing About 3 years ago after another bad injury . Both of my kids are doing great My son is a school teacher and my daughter works for Victoria Secretes .
Interview continued on Page 3!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
We'd like to congratulate Firemedic831 for having the November 2019 Rig of the Month! And this month we are going to try something different by posting the questions to the interview with Firemedic831 throughout the month instead of all at once!
Hayden: Tell us a bit about yourself (Family/pets, work/school, hobbies/interests, location, etc.)
Firemedic831: About me Hmm were would i start lol . My name is Jeff and i grew up in the Bay Area . I have 2 wonderful Kids , My son Zak and daughter Alyssa . Both still live in Florida . I moved to Florida when i turned 21 and pursued my Racing career . At the time i worked for Yamaha and raced Motocross . I also did construction work to help pay for my racing . One day i was driving and just thought to myself i am tired of chasing checks from people and i was going to get a normal job and i had always wanted to be a Firefighter , Not sure why because i knew nothing about it In fact i had never even been in a Fire station . I honestly did not know how to even become one . So i went down to the Collage and signed up for EMT class And by luck a class was starting the next day . After about 2 weeks of class and me not having a single clue What they were talking about in class I stayed after one day and talked to the teacher . She explained to me most if not all in the class were Firefighters and that to get a job you had to be Duel certified ? She also explained to me what some of the things meant like COPD ALS ect ect . . She told me that you had to get sponsored to get into a Fire Academy and that a Fire Dept has to do that . I left there that day in a fog but went straight to the City Fire Dept . That day was the first time i had ever step foot into a Fire Station . Long story short , 6 months after that day i was already into a Fire academy ( That SUCKED ) i was the President of the Florida state VOL Fire Fighters and i had graduated with the highest grade in the EMT class . 1 year to the day of stepping foot into that station i was Hired as a Full time career Firefighter . I tested against 378 others and was actually 3rd on the list but was picked over the other top 2 . 1.5 years later i was the youngest and fastest Firefighter in that departments history to make the rank of Lieutenant . I had taken a bunch of classes that to me were Fun like High Angle Rescue , Confined Space Rescue , Water Rescue , and trained my dog in water Rescue and she actually worked for the FD . Then BOOM 9-11 i was just getting off shift and driving home when i heard on the radio and my pager went off . 18 hours later i was at Ground Zero . My dog ( Tally ) and i along with 1 other was sent up since i had confined space rescue training . There is a big difference in going to school for a week and the dealing with what had happened . After that my career kinda got fast tracked . F.E.M.A. made what is called F.I.T. ( first in teams ) there are 5 in the US and when big things happen a team gets deployed to go in first and get things sorted . I was chosen to Lead a team . I was able to cross train in all sorts of things like working with gas companies , water plants , DOT , Counter Intell , Haz Mat ect ect . You name it i was trained in it . There are alot of things that happen in this world thats all i can say about that . I put in 20 years and retired , that lasted about a year I moved to Oregon to be close to my family again and i really liked the area . I built a log cabin for my parents friends and things kinda grew from there . I was offered a job to run the So Oregon division for a Portland based building company . I stopped racing About 3 years ago after another bad injury . Both of my kids are doing great My son is a school teacher and my daughter works for Victoria Secretes .
Interview continued on Page 3!