Business Account Representative.
Father.
Firefighter.

“Friends need help, dad,” Jake Johnson (JJ’s) three year-old daughter calls out when his pager goes off. She tries to rush him out the door, puts on his helmet, helps with the gear. JJ just finished his BEFO (Basic Exterior Firefighter) training. “It’s intense,” he says. “Because of the pandemic half got cancelled, then restarted, and it was on Tuesdays and Thursdays and some Saturdays.” Which is, for a father with a young child and another on the way, not a small commitment. It can be lot, he says, but his wife Sheila was an EMT before moving back to Margaretville, and JJ’s mom is an RN and EMT, so volunteering wasn’t out of the blue or unknown. And, for JJ and the Johnson’s it takes a family.

Sheila says, “We roll with the chaos.” JJ adds that the balance is never equal. “We’re all in on this, and all in on family. Sometimes responding will depend on the severity of call and where the call is. Everyone understands I’ll be away, because it’s not just friends who need help but neighbors and strangers too.”