The Brotherhood of Firefighters

A week ago today I was in the midst of a smoke filled building on my hands and knees fighting controllable fires and theatrical smoke with people I did not even know. It was simply some of the most fun I have ever had in my life. Call me crazy if you want but firefighters love to be where the action is, and last weekend was wall to wall action.

A little background is in order I am firefighter 531 of Calhoun Fire Department in McMinn County Tennessee, I was dubbed "Preacher" before a single brother had ever heard me preach. As a part of the Department I took a class in which people from all over the county came together and were trained in basics of firefighting by some great guys in the local "paid" department. It was while we were taking this class that I really got to know some of these guys well and developed friendships and thought I knew what it meant to be a part of the "brotherhood of firefighters".

It turns out I did not know half of the extent of the camraderie firefighters feel toward one another. This is how I learned: During our last week of class which included a stressful final and a trip to the academy a fellow firefighter in our county had an atv accident in which he sustained severe trauma and eventually succumbed to his injuries. The firefighter's name was Zach Shultz and while I did not know him at all I could tell that he had an enormous impact on the community at large and specifically the rescue squad of our county. What I did not know what the impact he would have on firefighters from all over the state who did not even know this young man existed until he had already died.

Flash forward a bit to this past weekend. Our group of cadets from McMinn County was a part of a large class of cadets from all over the State of Tennessee at the academy. During the course of the weekend we placed our wellbeing into the hands of complete strangers during training evolutions when all we knew was they were firefighting rookies just like us. It turns out that the fire ground was not the only place they would support us though and it was off the ground that it mattered the most.

At the completion of our class those that completed the requirements were given a certificate and that is when it happened the moment that revealed the true brotherhood of firefighters. During the closing session one of my brothers in the McMinn County Department stood up and played for our class, "The Last Call of Zack Shultz." For those of you dont know the last call of a firefighter is where they inform the others of his passing via the emergency alert system we all use to respond to calls. This one was special because it was not only a county dispatcher reading numbers off of a computer screen but one of Zach's friends playing tribute to him one last time.

It was as this call was just beginning as the "tones dropped" that the firefighters all around us that never knew Zack rose from their seats, removed their hats, and stood at attention to salute this brother they never knew, and support the brothers they just met. I cannot tell you how deafening and encouraging the silence was and how much it meant to even me a guy who never knew the deceased to know that we were a part of something so much grander than just our individual departments, but I can tell you that I will never forget it as long as I live.

It is this brotherhood that makes what we do easier, that even though we may hound each other to death as if we hated each other between calls, we know that when those tones drop and the trucks start rolling, or even when we are dealing with the grief of a lost brother or a disastrous wreck or fire, we are a family of firefighters who are the only ones who understand fully what we see and do on a regular basis.

Now I truly understand what they meant when they said I was joining a brotherhood, and I have never been prouder to be apart of it.