Where are you from? I’m from Salt Lake City and I moved to Jackson in 2007. I was coming to Jackson in the summertimes before that but hadn’t really made it my home yet. 

What do you do for work? I’m a full-time ski patroller and mountain patroller at JHMR in both the winter and summer. In the spring and fall, I’m a Grand Canyon river guide.

What do you do in your free time? I work on various house projects and dog training and spend time with my wife and three dogs.

How long have you been a part of JH Fire/EMS? Less than a year at this point; I couldn’t finish fire academy this fall because of an injury, separate from the fire department, so I’ll be giving it another go next fall.

What made you want to join? Helping my community I suppose. 

So obviously you have medical emergencies history through ski patrol: did you have any other prior experience in emergency services? I was on Alpine Fire (department) for a little while, but I didn’t get any certs with them. I got my EMT like 15 years ago and just never used it. 

What is your role in the department? Volunteer out of Station 3.

What are your current certs? I’m in the EMR class right now and then I’ll get my redcard and go through fire academy again.

What are your future goals in the department? I guess to be a full-fledged firefighter so I can respond. 

Do you have a favorite part of volunteering yet? Helping people in their time of need.

What advice would you give new recruits? Shave your beard!

What do you think is the most valuable trait for someone to have in this line of work? Dedication and patience…actually maybe patience more than dedication.

Who is someone in the department who you look up to or has helped you most along the way? Andrew Byron from Station 3.

Although you just started, have you already had conversations with your wife or other family and friends about what responding will look like? Hmm interesting….umm it’s not an easy conversation honestly. I don’t know how to sum it up…but when it’s a call and it’s clearly a serious call, like there’s an accident in the canyon or a structure fire or something, it’s almost an unspoken conversation and when I walk out the door, she says, ‘be careful.’ It’s tough, because most of the time it’s not that severe. ‘You have to go to fire training again?’ Ugh. ‘You have to help somebody that slipped?’ But then once in a while it is that severe. Overall, I would just say it’s challenging.