Over the course of that time I held every position from "probie" to acting Fire Chief, responded to hundreds (maybe thousands, not sure) of calls ranging from motor vehicle accidents, to brush fires, structure fires, medical emergencies, and WAY too many false automatic alarm activations - plus an array of miscellaneous calls. I had the opportunity to become an NC Fire & Rescue Comission certified Instructor with qualifications to teach Firefighter I & II certification classes, LP Gas Firefighting, and Incident Command. I was almost killed (or at least badly injured) on a few occasions - once when the brakes went out on an engine I was driving while responding to a call, and a couple of near misses with flashovers while doing interior attacks.
There were some crazy adventures in there, some really good days, some not so good days, but I've always loved the fire service and I don't regret any of the time I spent doing that stuff, even though there was zero financial reward for it. And more importantly, I'd like to think we were able to help some people here and there. Out there, somewhere, is a family that is living in their home today, because of the job we did.
Years later I wrote a Quora answer that become my highest upvoted answer and eventually wound up being published on Forbes.com. Anybody interested in fire fighting and fire engines might find this interesting.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/08/15/what-do-all-th...