Fire Department

Where are you stationed?
I am assigned to Station 5 (Cottage Grove Road) on the ‘C’ shift.

What attracted you to this career?
The fire service presents a unique opportunity as a public servant to do work that is both mentally and physically challenging. It is profession that has a pretty unique blend of skills required to excel in the field. It is very rewarding to be able to help the public and be the first face they see often times in a time of crisis. This is also a profession that requires constant learning. Whether looking at fire or EMS, there is always new equipment, technology, and procedures around the corner, and that was always a huge draw for me.

Why did you want to work in Madison?
Growing up near Madison, the city always seemed to be a place where things happened. Something is always happening in Madison, between college sports and the lakes and the capitol, among many, many other things. It’s a place of many different types of people as a city and as a department, and for a long time I’ve wanted to try to contribute to that in some small way if I can. It’s very rewarding to come to work and have a crew that have all had different life experiences to share and then apply them to calls throughout the day.

Medical responses are an important part of the service we provide. What have been the most challenging and/or rewarding aspects of these calls for you?
The most challenging aspect has been realizing just how many different types of medical calls there are. No call seems to be the same; even if the symptoms reported are the same as a previous call, the patient is different and how they experience those symptoms is rarely the same. Drawing on past experience can be vital with medical responses, so just trying to build up a little bit of a foundation, so to speak, is challenging but very rewarding.

Feel free to share any stories or "fun facts" about yourself that we didn't ask about!
I majored in Criminal Justice in college and almost became a police officer!