Firefighters reveal some of the most terrifying - and rewarding - moments on the job

"In the winter of 2003, I was assigned to Engine Company 29. One day we were dispatched to a house fire. When we arrived, we entered the home and made it to the second floor. A captain from another company told us to find windows and ventilate the third floor. We made our way up, and encountered heavy smoke. Within moments after entering a room, fire began to be visible behind us. Conditions had changed so rapidly that we became trapped, and I called a Mayday. It soon became painfully clear that our only option was to jump out of the third-floor window, and I was not wearing my personal bailout belt that day — a serious mistake on my part.

"Jumping from the third floor seemed to happen in slow motion. I kept telling myself that it was not going to hurt. I watched the bricks from the building next door as I fell to the ground, landing on my feet. IT HURT. I knew that I was badly injured, but had no idea how seriously.

"I was quickly removed from the gangway and placed in the ambulance. One of the other firefighters with me was also very badly injured with a broken back and leg. A third firefighter made it to safety. I had also broken my back. It didn't require surgery, but I was in a body brace for several months."

"I was also on the scene of another multiple line-of-duty-death-fire at Ebenezer Baptist Church in 2004, and I lost another good friend, Battalion Chief Charlie Brace. He died along with fellow crew member Fire ghter Rick Stefanakis.

"I was a pallbearer at Brace's funeral, but I was most humbled to be requested to accompany his wife, Jamie, to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Weekend when they were both honored.

"The Bricelyn Street fire in particular was a wake-up call to many of us in the department. I developed an unquenchable desire to become a better firefighter, and since I was a new officer I was determined to learn as much as I could. I took my promotional exams and rose through the ranks. I was the first female officer in the department, and unfortunately to this date the only female officer in the PBF of any rank."

"I began my studies in disaster preparedness and homeland security, and then earned a master's degree at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Following this period, I was awarded an alumni fellowship and relocated to Washington, DC, for a year to work on a nationwide program on terrorism and responder preparedness.

"The work we did in DC has had an impact on virtually every fire service organization in the United States. It also laid the groundwork for the DHS- FEMA Ready Responder program that prepares all fire fighters and EMTs in security protocols and mass-casualty events.

"As I have come to understand what happens to firefighters under stress during mass-casualty events, I have become increasingly aware that responding to smaller events or natural disas- ters can have profound, cumulative, and lasting impacts."

"Gila River Indian Community is located 34 miles south of Phoenix, Arizona. Gila River Fire Department (GRFD) is a tribally operated, all-career, all-hazards department operating out of four stations that serve our people.

"Our service area is 584 square miles of rural and industrial environments across a desert landscape. We have approximately 22,000 tribal members, and about half of them live on our homeland. The traditional name of our people is the Akimel O'odham (River People) and our known history traces back to 300 BC. Our ancestors' way of life was agricultural and primarily revolved around the Gila River, which owed westward across south-central Arizona.

"Today, the river no longer flows due to colonial settlement and water diversions. The histories of the Akimel O'odham and the Gila River are deeply intertwined with each other. Presently the O'odham face the complex challenge of restoring their agricultural way of life while securing water rights and implementing extensive irrigation projects."

"I was to be appointed fire chief of the [Maryland] Prince George's County Fire Department, and approved by the county council for my new position, on September 11, 2001. Family and friends from across the country were in the council chambers that morning when I was called away to the county executive's office. I was told what was happening in Manhattan, and about the attacks on the Pentagon and in Shanksville.

"A callback of off-duty career and volunteer personnel was implemented. Members of the department were deployed to support emergency operations at the Pentagon and to begin planning for — what? A subsequent attack at some of our super-sensitive installations in the county? We had no idea."

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