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Firefighting career heats up for local man serving in Army
Jul 04, 2010
By Larece Galer
LGaler@News-Herald
Submitted Army Sgt. 1st Class Thomas E. Holliday has taken on duties as an instructor for the Department of Defense Fire Academy.
For the career soldier, it wasn’t even something he had considered as a career.
But Holliday is now an instructor at the Department of Defense Fire Academy at Goodfellow Air Force Base just southeast of San Angelo, Texas.
Holliday has been in the Army for 17 years and has made it his career, with the decision coming after the birth of his oldest son.
Holliday, whose parents Robert and Susan Baumgartner live in Mentor, joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1993 right after graduation and was stationed in Brook Park; in 1995 he requested active duty and was stationed at the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. When the contract ended with the Marines, he joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Holliday admits he wasn’t sure if making the Army a career was what he wanted to do but providing for his family was important so he continued.
Holliday also was not sure that instructing was for him, but he changed his mind after seeing what the school was all about.
“It is a great feeling when you help someone to understand something or help them to get past a physical objective,” he said.
The course is 68 days long and is divided into six blocks of instruction, including ones for first responders that teach CPR, lifesaving techniques and fire behavior.
Holliday teaches block six, which is “Airport Rescue and Firefighting.”
“Anyone who comes here for training needs to be in good shape. This course is not only mentally challenging but very physically demanding,” Holliday said.
Firefighters’ physical training is described by Holliday as a series of specific tasks and the toughest five miles the trainees endure. The tasks require the trainees to carry their heavy tools for 25 feet, haul ladders and a rolled hose, and perform a victim rescue while wearing the heavy protective gear of a firefighter.
Holliday still has goals for himself after 17 years. He wants to complete his bachelor’s degree in emergency management and hopes to retire to a second career with a government agency, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
For Holliday, training others in firefighting techniques is an important job. He believes in preparation, good habits from the very beginning and repetition that help to make a firefighter out of a new soldier
“We are here to teach the basics of firefighting. When my students leave my course, I hope that they leave here with a good foundation that will lay the groundwork for more advanced education in firefighting,” he said.
When he isn’t teaching, Holliday spends time with his family, which includes wife Jennifer and sons Riley, 13. and Dylan, 5.
Holliday said he enjoys PlayStation 3 with his boys and swimming or boating when the weather is very warm.
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