Guinn Completes Fire and EMS Certifications

By John Earp

Luke Guinn, a lifelong Jal resident, says he feels he has found his niche in becoming a firefighter/EMT with Jal Fire/EMS Department. Joining Jal Fire a couple of years back as a volunteer, he recently completed his Fire I and II certifications as well as his basic EMT certification, which he said took him about three months to complete.

Guinn says he really likes to help people. “I grew up always wanting to help people, so whenever I found out you could do it as a job, which was perfect.” Luke says the hardest part of the job for him is dealing with the high levels of stress which are a necessary part of fighting fires and assisting people who have been injured in accidents on the highways.

Guinn says presently Jal Fire/EMS has four individuals who are cross trained as both firefighters as well as EMTs, as well as one who is strictly a firefighter and another who is strictly an EMT.

Guinn credits his coworkers in the department for helping him learn the job, and especially credits recently retired Jal Fire Chief Nick Moody for going out of this way to set Luke up for the classes and pushing him to achieve his certifications. “He’s the reason why I got into Fire I and II, and he’s the reason why I got into EMT. And then there have been several other times he sent me places to get other certifications.

Luke says he really sees being a firefighter and EMT as his main career going forward. He is thankful to the community of Jal for supporting Jal Fire/EMS. He noted the need for volunteers, saying that even one volunteer can make a lot of difference to the full-time Fire/EMS staff who, besides working full-time, each also have to be on call after hours ten times per month.

Luke says, “The reason we’re needing volunteers is because most of our volunteers, they have jobs as well and they’re tired after a long day of work. So, it just gets scarce and us full-timers end up coming and having to spend our nights working, when we should be off. Guinn says oftentimes firefighters and EMTs will spend all night working on fire and still must go in to work first thing in the morning. He says coffee helps.