The Evolution
1990 - OXYGEN
He comes home smelling like smoke and fire, face dirty, muscles exhausted. My brother just spent the entire night battling the demon and he is looking forward to his bed. He doesn’t hesitate a second to talk to me, his baby brother and tell me how big the fire was, how many people they saved and how nobody got hurt. I sit there awestruck and inspired by the details of his story. My big brother is literally a hero as he fights the “demons”...
That’s where it started.
I WANT TO BE A FIREFIGHTER
1999 - FUEL
The last two years of high school I have been taking pre-service courses two or three nights a week at the local college. Firefighting is the goal and I don’t see myself as a “wanna be” firefighter, I see myself as a “gonna be” firefighter, nothing is going to stop me. It was during an auto extrication class when a brochure crossed my desk that would change everything...
2002 - HEAT
Accepted to Texas A&M Fire Academy in College Station, Texas. The truest test was about to begin. Three grueling months of intensity, including physical exhaustion, strict study regiments, military style living and overall pushing everything to the limits. I had never been pushed so hard mentally, physically and emotionally. Graduating there was the most rewarding experience I’ve ever had.
2004 - CHEMICAL REACTION
(Smoke Showing)
To make ends meet and gain experience driving a truck, I was delivering building materials to construction sites. The cell phone rings... A woman on the other end asks “is this Brian Fitzgerald?”
The path that I had been on since I was a young boy is no longer a dream, it’s MY reality. It had finally happened, all the hard work, late nights, fitness tests and written exams all over Ontario had finally paid off.
No longer am I “gonna be” a firefighter...
I AM a firefighter...
FULLY INVOLVED
(Pull a Line)
Better than I had ever imagined this job, this career, this dream makes me a new man. I love this job in every way imaginable and that’s when I realized...
I’ve got a constant fascination and strong interest in the imagery of the work I do in every way. I have seen the angles that a person can view this job from the outside, as well as how I live it from the inside.
