I am now retired from the fire department after 25 years of service (1/12/81 to 3/3/2006) and I have seen it all. What a great career it was. It was really neat running to that fire truck on the last day, just like I did on the first day! How many people can say, “I can’t wait to go to work?”

In my 25 years of fire fighting, 21 were spent as a professional fire fighter / EMT with Fairfax County, Virginia. Three years were spent as a volunteer fire fighter with the Morningside Volunteer Fire Department Co. 27 in Prince George’s County, Maryland. His rank with Fairfax County was Apparatus Technician. This is the Driver / Operator position on Truck Company Eleven. It was Wade's job to get the twenty-six ton fire truck and personnel to the incidents safely. He prided himself on his ability to drive the fire truck and on occasion pushed it to its limits. The urgency of the call dictated the speed of the response. If you were trapped in a fire, Wade could talk the talk and walk the walk! If you don't believe it, just ask the other drivers in the battalion. They all saw nothing but taillights a time or two...and that’s while responding into their first due!

Wade says, "The people in the fire department are some of the greatest people you could ever meet. They are very highly trained and the county is known all over the world. If you watch the news and keep up on world affairs, you have seen our people as VA. TASK FORCE 1 going to the rescue of people on the other side of the planet. We work with this team of men and women every day as fire fighters in the county. Being a career fire fighter has its ups and downs, or should I say highs and lows. I have seen the first breath of life delivering a baby on the side of southbound I-95 during a blizzard at three in the morning. On the other hand, I've tried to breathe life into a person who’s just taken his last. I am very grateful to be a fire fighter and race car builder / driver just like I dreamed about as a child."

"Lovin' life every day! Drivin' fire trucks at work and race cars at play!"