“The test of a true firefighter - comes not with how many stickers are on your car or how many t-shirts are in your drawer. It comes from inside.

It comes on the fire ground. It comes when you hear your fellow firefighters on the radio being pushed back by fire and calling for help. It comes when you drive the brush truck down into the valley where fire is working its way up the hills. When you feel you are in the midst of a firestorm. Winds are high. Ash is blowing everywhere.

It’s when you have almost no visibility, no bearings because all you see is orange colored smoke, your fellow firefighters and the smoky image of the tanker. It’s when the air is hot and the wind is cold. It’s one of the most surreal feelings and environments you ever encounter. It’s in that moment , when the thought ‘What the heck am I doing here?’ crosses your mind. That is the defining moment. When you push that thought and that fear out of your head and out of your belly and push on and do your job, it’s then that you become a firefighter.