Where are you from? Illinois. I moved to Jackson in about 1995ish and I have my two kids here.

How long have you been a part of JH Fire/EMS? 1.5 years.

What are your certs? EMR, Fire 1, Hazmat, Redcard.

What do you do for work? Real estate appraiser.

What made you want to join JH Fire/EMS? The challenge of it, I guess, and being a greater part of the community. 

Do you have any family members or friends who are firefighters or involved in prehospital care? I have a nephew that is part of Fire/EMS in Illinois.

When you first started, were you more intrigued by the fire side or the EMS side? EMS and fire sort of pleasantly surprised me

Favorite part of volunteering? The people. The camaraderie. People are so welcoming right off the bat.

Most satisfying/rewarding? Hasn’t been long enough yet but I think it would be just the helping part of it, more on the EMS side, but the couple things I have been to, it feels good to be there, to just be a body so people see that we’re there to help, showing that there are people willing to be there in a tragedy or on somebody’s worst day.

Do you have any stand-out calls? Uh, yeah, the other night! It was 0 degrees and the water was hitting us and we were all frozen, our jackets, our helmets, we put our gloves to move our shield down and they’d stick there. It was cold and miserable and yet so awesome because the pain was offset by the camaraderie. As awful as it can be to fight a fire in Jackson hole, it’s the people you’re with. 

What do you do in your free time? I take walks with my dogs, I skin snow king, I love coffee time, and I love to hang out with my girls. They are so proud of me, doing this, it’s so cute.

What advice would you give new recruits? I would say be sure you have the time. That would be my biggest advice. Even though we got through academy, it’s still going to be a ton of work and educational upkeep.

Be committed.

Go to all the training.

Keep working out! My god this shit’s heavy. 

What do you wish you had known when starting? How much time it does truly take. I think the time commitment, even though we graduated academy and did the initial stuff, it’s still significant. I didn’t realize it would take as much time as it does.

What is the most important skill for someone on JH Fire/EMS? Always keep track of your buddy. Always have your partner’s back. Are they safe?

Train. It’s hard work, so you better have a good work ethic. 

What are your future goals in the department? I would like to get really dialed in with EMS and the medical part.