5 year old firefighter

[VolFFJohn]

When I was younger I wanted to be a firefighter just like my uncle.(Who became a firefighter when I was about 5.) I always looked forward to seeing the fire trucks in parades and when they came to the school for FPW.

Don't Let Anyone Tell You That Dreams Don't Come True

[firefightermatt]

I was exactly like that...man those were the days....uunfortunatly they didhave the children's turnout gear like they do now(atleast not that I knew about)

[ffdfireexplorer]

Originally posted by firefiftyfive
Wow...memory lane man, I was exactly the same, minus the brother! I'm around your age as well...I'm 21...good stuff brother, take care

You guys can remember when you were 5?i definitely cant and im 17

[firefiftyfive]

Wow...memory lane man, I was exactly the same, minus the brother! I'm around your age as well...I'm 21...good stuff brother, take care

[LRFireE135]

Ahh...Sweet Memmmmmooorrieeesss!!!

This kid was so me, (and still is to some extent.) Even when I was a toddler, you knew what I wanted to be. My parents always told me that a fire engine was the first vehicle that I was able to recognize. I had and still do have a large collection of toy and model fire trucks. When my little brother was born, I was psyched because I now had another firefighter. In my house growing up... You would think it was a firehouse. My little brother and I made a bunk room, and a day room. and we both had a pair of jeans that we rolled down over a pair of rain boots. (I was very thorough as you can probably tell.)

In the garage, when my dad was at work, sat two fire trucks. One was a peddle car I got when I was very little, and the other was my new top-o-the-line power wheels fire engine with working lights and siren, and a deck gun.

As I grew older, I knew where all the local station houses were in my area of Memphis, and could tell you what equipment was at each station. When I moved to Missouri, I was really depressed and hated it because they didn't have any big fire departments or anything like that. Then I got involved in the cadet program and once again fell in love with the fire service.

My mom & dad surprised me for Christmas with a Cairns 1010 and a pair of leather gloves when I was 15. Today, I am 18 and I am a certified Firefighter II/Hazmat Ops, and a Licensed, National Registry EMT-B. So as you can see, I was just like this kid not that long ago.

Thanks for that fond trip down memory lane! I love memories! Good Luck to the kid. I've been too Gosnell and it's a pretty neat town.


Adam
Firefighter/EMT-B
Missouri
________________
I.A.C.O.J. - New Hire - Pos. TBA soon

[shortytheFF]

I have one of those

I can totally see where you are coming from. Both my boys 3 and 5, want to be just like well their mommy. I am an EMT and FF and always have worked EMS and I worked for AeroMed also. Well Jacobb's class just went to the FD for prevention week and well Jacobb told them what every hose size was and was each class of extig, was for, the PPV fan did, how to roll a hose it was just too funny. Jacobb is not really the one to be a FF, but my youngest whom I almost named Pierce, (but the ex would not let me) is the true no fear FF! Jacobb and I were in the paper this summer him with a ff and the hose and mommy working on the ambulance at a PR event. They even have own their own fleet of EMS trucks! They are very proud of me and that helps me do my job even better. They know when they hear the scanner tones its time for me to go and they will come running with "Mommy 212 is going out". They will tell me the street address too, you just gotta love 'em!

[NJFFSA16]

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Five-year-old Ethan Grissom of Gosnell
is pretty sure he is already an off-duty firefighter, and has been
since he was 2, his mother says.
Ethan was born the son of a firefighter, Darryl Grissom, who
serves at both the Blytheville and Gosnell fire departments.
According to his mom, Dorothy Grissom, Ethan started going to
fires with his dad (and mom of course) when he was about 1½ years
old, and by the time he was 2 he claimed to be a firefighter.
"He's been dressing up as a firefighter for Halloween since he
was 2 and intends to continue the trend," Dorothy Grissom said.
"And since his dad is also a paramedic now, so is Ethan, or so he
says."
Grissom recalled one instance when her son was only 3 years old
and wanted to go see his dad at work.
"It was during the season when C-Net was in operation and
Darryl was at the fire station at the Aeroplex that Ethan wanted to
go see his dad," she said. "And no matter how many times I told
him that we were not allowed past the entrance to the facility
where the fire station was located, he refused to believe it."
She went on to say that she finally put Ethan in the car to take
him to the fire station, and just as she had said, they were
stopped at the entrance and told they could not go in.
"Ethan told Blytheville Officer Damon Travis, who was guarding
the entrance, that he in fact could go in because he was an
off-duty firefighter and had his suit in the trunk to prove it,"
Grissom said.
According to Grissom, Travis just simply could not let them in,
as much as he wanted to, and when he saw how upset Ethan was about
it, he called Darryl Grissom from the fire station to the entrance
so Ethan could see him.
"Another thing Ethan does is jump out of the car when we get to
a fire, put on his fire suit and start toward the house. Of course
he gets stopped by either me or his dad," Grissom said. "But he
just looks at us and says, 'I have to go in there and put out that
fire.' In his little heart, he really is an off-duty firefighter,
and he tells everyone who will listen."
To pacify his hunger to be a firefighter, the department lets
him help during hose testings or truck washings and that sort of
thing, Dorothy Grissom says.
"They even let him ride the truck in the Christmas parade when
he was 2, and he got to turn on the siren and the lights. That
pretty much confirmed the fact that he was a firefighter."
This week is Fire Prevention Week, and Darryl Grissom, along
with fellow firefighter Jason Taylor, is giving presentations to
the kindergarten classes at Gosnell Elementary School.
Ethan, by the way, is in one of these classes and has taken
pictures of himself in his dad's firefighting gear to school to
show his classmates that he really is an off-duty firefighter.
"He is bound and determined to be 'just like Dad,"' Dorothy
Grissom said. "And it makes my heart swell with pride to see him
trying so hard to do just that."

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)