Fire duty trumped 21st birthday partying

Published 10:50 pm Friday, November 2, 2007

Most people blow out candles on a birthday cake.

When Jacob Howard turned 21 on Monday, he used a fire hose.

The Gold Bar volunteer firefighter was battling southern California wildfires on his special day.

When members of his crew came upon a blazing bunch of trees on Oct. 29, they stoked it up a bit, put a fire hose in Howard’s hands and gathered around to sing “Happy Birthday.”

“I was laughing and I was quite surprised,” Howard said.

When wind-swept wildfires threatened thousands of homes in southern California last month, teams of firefighters from around the country mustered to join the battle, including several from Washington.

Howard and seven other volunteers from Gold Bar dropped everything and made the 1,300-mile trek on Oct. 24. They expect to come home next week, unless the Santa Ana winds return and flame the remaining fires back out of control.

For Howard, the out-of-state deployment meant missing planned birthday celebrations and classes at Everett Community College where he’s studying fire science, part of his training to be a professional firefighter.

“The thing is, if I weren’t teaching the class, I’d be down there,” Howard’s teacher Tom Foster said. Foster is a fire sciences instructor, a part-time Snohomish County fire marshal and retired deputy fire chief.

Working with firefighters from several states on the massive fire response is a situation that doesn’t come along very often, Foster said.

“He’s early in his career. This is a fantastic opportunity for him,” he said.

To drop everything and deploy “shows a tremendous amount of dedication and personal motivation,” Foster said.

When Howard returns, Foster said he’ll help him catch up on missed school work.

His mother said they’ll try to catch up on missed celebrations, too. It’s not the first time special events have had to be rescheduled.

“That’s what happens in our family,” Jacob’s mom, Karen, 49, said. “We live a life where you make plans and the fire service kind of ruins it.”

Howard’s dad is a deputy fire chief in Gold Bar. He’s serving as an engine boss in California with his son. One sister is a paramedic in Grant County, another sister is marrying a firefighter. An uncle was a fire chief in Aberdeen. Grandpa was a fire service chaplain.

“It’s a whole family fire thing,” Karen Howard said.

Volunteers helping firefighters in California bought Jacob Howard a birthday cake, but he still hasn’t had his first alcoholic drink as a 21-year-old.

“When we get back, the entire crew’s going to go out and sit down and have a drink and finally celebrate,” he said.

Still, suiting up in bunker gear and working full-time as a firefighter for two weeks has had its rewards, Howard said.

“I grew up around fire stations and loved every minute of it,” he said. “It’s not very often children get to live out their fantasy.”

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.