Meet Some of Newton's Firemen on International Firefighters Day

NEWTON, MA - May 4 is International Firefighter Day. Do you know who your local firemen are? Station 2 is just off of Commonwealth Avenue right along the marathon route. Patch spoke to four firefighters there at the ready in case of an emergency. Although they each came into the department at different times and with different backgrounds each of them said they wouldn't trade it in.

A firefighter in Australia actually started the International Firefighter Day movement in the late 1990s following the deaths of five firefighters in tragic circumstances in a wildfire in Victoria, Australia. This year people were taking to Twitter to give a shout out to their local fire departments, including Historic Newton, which tweeted out a photo of the local department from the 1880s.

Happy International Firefighters Day. #ReTweet this #TBT post & thank our emergency service professionals. (Photo ca. 1880 in Newton) pic.twitter.com/2c2tlUJGjd — Historic Newton (@HistoricNewton) May 4, 2017

Meanwhile at Station 2, while many said they considered the work fun, not one characterized what they did as easy. Some mentioned the strange hours - 24 hours on, three days off making it difficult to have a normal life outside of work or even get consistent sleep. Others mentioned that there's a lot of ongoing training that keeps them on their toes.

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(Patrick LeBlanc's dad was a firefighter before him. Photo by Jenna Fisher, Patch reporter)

When Patrick LeBlanc was a boy he'd come to the fire station with his dad. He remembers Firefighter Roche, who is his captain today, picking him up and putting him up on a rig. "It was just something I always knew I wanted to do," he said.

He went to Lassell College just waiting until he could take the civil servant test when he turned 19. As soon as he was eligible he did and was assigned to the same station where his dad worked. The test and the process weren't easy, he said. But he's been on for more than 5 years now.

As for responding to fires, he said, "you never really know what you're going into." There's a lot of adrenaline when a call about a fire comes in. He remembers a bad fire on Newtonville Avenue and a fire one cold winter on Tremont Street. But he said he feels good about the role the firefighters play in the community, too.

During one of the Boston Marathon's where the temperatures got up to 96 degrees. He remembers asking the captain if they could open up the fire hydrant and use a hose with a nozzle to spray water on those who wanted it when they ran by. "So many people thanked us for that that day," he said.

(Brian Bannon, Photo by Jenna Fisher, Patch reporter)

Brian Bannon went to school for criminal justice and thought he'd be a police officer. He also worked as an assistant teacher at Williams. He took the civil service test had offers for both the police and fire departments and then decided to become a firefighter. Four years in and he said it was the right choice. It was the team aspect of it, he said, that attracted him to the work.

One of the most memorable nights for Bannon was fighting a Friday the 13th fire in January on Tremont Street one January. His engine was the first one to get there. "We went in and there was just no visibility in the basement," he said. It was like working with a blindfold on. He was working from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. and by the time they were finished all of the firefighters were covered in ice.

It's a rush, the work of getting to such a fire. "Everything happens so fast that's when your training kicks in," he said.

And when Newton firefighters are waiting for the next call they do a lot of training he said. They also may play a little ping pong and joke around.

(Matt Vello, Newton Fire. Photo by Jenna Fisher, Newton Patch reporter)

Matt Vello was born and raised in Newton, he's been a fire fighter for 7 years and is a third generation firefighter. He remembers watching his dad hang off the back of the firetruck when he was younger and fell in love with the idea of doing something similar when he grew up. "Of course, now you can't do that," he said, but, he still says he loves the work. "I love getting to helping," he said adding that the fire department responds to medical calls as well as fires.

But he does love fighting fires, too. "Every fire is memorable, you go to help, but you don't ever want to see someone's home destroyed," he said.

(Captain Mark Roche has been on the fire department for 33 years he said. Photo by Jenna Fisher, Patch reporter)

The first thing someone might notice about Captain Mark Roche is his white hat, the second thing one might notice is his prominent mustache that extends all the way to his jawline. He claims he's had the stache since he was 16, inspired by a firefighter. Roche, 61, said firefighting was a lifelong ambition of his, and he doesn't quite remember when that began.

"I don't remember why. I just got hit with the spark. No pun intended. Well, actually, pun intended," he said with a smile. Roche became an EMT on the path to becoming a firefighter and made his way up the rank to captain. He's seen both life and death - but no firefighters saving kittens from trees. That, he hasn't seen.

One of the worst fires he remembers was a fire that took place at 200 Boylston Street in the middle of the day. Five People died that day. "It was a horrific fire," he said recalling that an occupied office building caught fire and spread trapping a number of people. "We saved quite a few people," he said. "But it just got a real head start. You don't see fires like that in the middle of the day in an occupied building. That's a fire I'll never forget."

He's also assisted with a child birth. A number of years ago he was in the crew that was called to the residences at Newton Highlands, he remembers helping a woman on a couch giving birth. "He's 15 years old now. ... That was a fun experience," he said.

His only regret over his 33 years in the department? "It's that I have to leave when I'm 65. I'd gladly do it over again."