Possibly a Masters Degree in Emergency Management or Fire Safety

Ever since I was a little kid, like most who lived near or saw the fire trucks they always wanted to be a firefighter. My Dad joined the local department in New York and then became Chief. I used to tag along to parades or fireman field days and enjoyed the atmosphere. So when I turned 18, I turned in my application to the Deferiet Fire Department and the rest is history.

I enjoy spending time with my 4 children and their spouses, my wife, my mom and dad, and my grandchildren. I enjoy watching and playing sports. I enjoy the outdoors and nature and do various activities such as hiking and deer hunting. I like to head up to the mountains and spend time at our family property relaxing and walking around the property, it just takes your mind of the everyday hustle and bustle.

I enjoy the friendship and camaraderie of my brother and sister firefighters. There have been many long lasting friendships that began through the fire company. It has become a second family and if they need some assistance you are there for them and visa versa, they are there to help you out. I also get to spend more time with my family as three of my children (Jeremy, Tyler and Danielle) joined the fire service and completed the FFI certification along with many other courses. Also my wife, Dori-Ann, who joined as the company photographer.

Well after nearly 40 years of service, how do you narrow this down. Is it being with my three kids at their first fire or rescue call, could it be the one where I was making an interior attack and saw the master bedroom suite collapse 20 feet in front of me, was it making an interior attack and having the hose come uncoupled from the engine and have no water, was it advancing the hose, sounding the floor and having my leg go through to my knee or maybe it wasn't a fire but a rescue. God knows there have been numerous ones of those in this time. There was the accident on Route 422 in which there were seven fatalities from a cross over accident, extricating a young high school girl from a head-on crash in very serious condition and then having her come to the station to say thanks and show us a picture of her going to her prom.

As I said, there are so many to recall but the top one most likely is a call I had while running with Collegeville Fire Company for a water rescue. There were four college aged gentleman (I use this word loosely) who decided to take a ride down the Perkiomen Creek in a bathtub in extremely high water. Needless to say the tub didn't survive but the four young men clung tightly to trees in the torrent water. There were several departments on the call that day including Rescue 27 from Norristown with Firefighter Bob Brock. Collegeville and Norristown Fire Company were in the process of stringing a safety rope across the creek, after using a line gun, when suddenly the rope dropped down into the water and it snapped. It was then decided that the use of boats as a primary rescue were not going to happen and the U.S. Coast Guard was called in from Cape May, NJ with a helicopter. We did our best to keep the boys calm and advised them of what was going on. Being creek side and watching as the Coast Guard arrived and safely removed all four boys from the creek was a positive ending, even though myself and the other firefighters were not as directly involved as we had first started. A few years later as a 9-1-1 dispatcher during a late evening while watching TV on a slow night, there was a program showing various rescue calls the Coast Guard had made and this call was one highlighted that evening, and I even caught a 2 second shot of myself in the show. I mentioned Bob Brock because he later moved to Limerick as did I and we both joined Limerick Fire Company (at the time), becoming good friends and sharing our firefighting knowledge and experience with the the men and women of Limerick Fire Department over the years.