Page 108 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2018

FIRST RESPONDERS team work
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FIRST RESPONDER:
Biloxi Fireman
story and photos by
Kelsey Sunderman-Foster
Captain Jim Davis and his team
at Biloxi’s Station 1, Central Fire Station, spend their days preparing for and responding to emergencies. “Station 1 is a bit different than the rest in that we’re the main station. We currently have nine in total and will be opening a tenth soon,” Davis said. “Being at Station 1 is a whole different job because we’re the most active. We come in about 45 minutes earlier than captains at other stations to line out shifts for both the north and south battalions.”
Once all the positions have been filled and crews have been lined out, the team prepares for the day by eating a good meal. “The most important piece of equipment on the truck is my guys, and I need them to be ready for any call that comes in,” Davis said. “It’s more than a
irefighters are everyday heroes in any community and often inspire children to dream of becoming firefighters themselves one day. Adults too look
up to the local men and women who devote their lives to protecting and serving the Coast.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Jeremy Fowler, James Landry, Matt Newton, Jim Davis, and Robert Romero. IN WINDOW: Derrick Gates. IN DOOR: Dane McGoey.
meal, it’s a time to come together as a team.”
For firemen, teamwork is everything. Working together during any emergency is what brings everyone on the team home safely. Throughout the course of the day, the firefighters undergo rigorous safety training for one to two hours as well as an additional one to two hours of physical training. All of this training is what keeps them ready for the next call.
The fire department receives calls big and small and responds to each one with the same care and urgency. “We’re required to be on scene inside of four minutes, weather and traffic permitting,” said Davis. For Davis and his team, no call is too big or too small; it’s serving the community that makes them feel successful at
the end of the day.
“Sometimes it’s easy like holding
the hand of someone with a stomach ache, but sometimes it’s much harder on us. I once responded to an emergency where a child near the age of my own son was hit during
an event on the Coast, and the entire time I just kept seeing my own son there on the ground,” Davis recalled. “When I got back to the truck I tried to stay composed, but my guys were distressed too. We’re a family, and even when we got to the station our family there felt our pain with us.”
At the end of the day, it’s that relationship that gives Davis and his team the strength to do what they do. “I know that I am nothing without my crew,” he said. “This job is definitely a calling, and one that you can’t do alone.”
Biloxi Fire Captain Jim Davis considers being a fireman his calling.
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