JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- When the bell rings and the alarm is sounded, the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst firefighters gear up and are out the door in a flash. People rely on these highly trained first responders for their firefighting and lifesaving skills – their teamwork, speed and training must be impeccable.
The firefighters live and work together at the station. For them, being a firefighter is a way of life, requiring constant effort and training.
“If we’re not doing hands-on training, we’re in upgrade training, driving training or just passing around general knowledge at the station,” said Airman Dayton Spencer, a firefighter with the 87th Civil Engineer Squadron. “There is always something to work on. We train like our lives depend on it, because they do.”
As part of their typical regimen of training to ensure their qualifications to fight any type of fire in any location imaginable, a team from Station 1 on the McGuire side of the base recently took to Falcon Courts North to practice a courtyard lay.
“A courtyard lay is a technique we can implement when our normal hose length would not be able to reach the fire,” said Spencer. “We’re able to extend our reach by hundreds of feet by attaching additional smaller width hoses. It can be physically exhausting to drag hundreds of feet of hoses and 100 pounds of gear, but in a real emergency we always find the strength to push through.”
When the day’s training is over, the on-duty firefighters do not return home. Their shifts are generally 24 hours at the station, 24 hours at home and then back to the station to do it all over again.
“We’re out here to help people, that’s our job,” said Capt. Lee Shattuck, 87th CES lead firefighter. “When the bell rings we need to be around to go out there and help, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
After normal duty hours, the senior firefighters often prepare dinner for the station in a traditional sit-down family meal. Rather than returning home at the end of the day the firefighters remain at the station, ready to grab their gear and get out the door if there is an emergency. The camaraderie they build spending so much time together strengthens their effectiveness as a unit.
“We spend half of our life at the fire house,” said Shattuck. “We call each other brother and sister for a reason - we are one big family. If we have good camaraderie here, it’s going to translate when we go to a call; it can save people’s lives.”
When Joint Base MDL was McGuire Air Force Base, Fort Dix and Naval Air Station Lakehurst, firefighters were assigned to one of the installations and were unaffiliated with one another. When the bases realigned in 2009 the fire stations integrated as well, uniting a wealth of experience.
“The Joint Base has a huge pool of knowledge to pull from,” said Shattuck. “We have experts who have served in all branches of the military, this has brought us specialists in aircraft fires, wild fires on the ranges and your typical city fires.”
Working as a team, the service members and civilians which make up Joint Base MDL’s fire services are prepared to respond to any situation the community throws at them.
“I love my job. My favorite part is coming in to work and not knowing what to expect,” said Spencer. “One day, you could have nothing going on. The next day, you could be pulling people out of a burning building – saving lives. It’s the only job I want to do.”