BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com
No matter how we prepare and plan for life, there are always twists and turns that lead us down roads we never dreamed of navigating.
Fifty-eight year old Dan Davis, a St. Joseph resident, never expected to be rescued by emergency personnel four times in his life. He didn’t expect two hip replacement surgeries. And he didn’t expect to become a firefighter.
But those roads led him to where he sits today, the 2019 St. Joseph Stanton Russell Chism Firefighter of the Year.
“Dan is a great example of the selfless service, commitment to improving his skill set, and helping those around him hone their abilities as well,” the announcement on St. Joseph-Stanton Fire Protection District’s Facebook page said.
Davis first encountered what it means to call for help after an accident on I-74. Years later, he had another car accident just north of St. Joseph.
But when Davis, a retired project design manager for facilities and services at the University of Illinois, was set to climb a ladder, just as he’d done many times before, he did not realize that the help he needed next would put him in a place where he smiles from ear-to-ear.
“I brought that ladder off of a vehicle from the outside; I thought it’d warmed up to room temperature. When I was on that ladder it (fell backwards).
“When it did, I jumped off, because I didn’t want to ride it down. I ended up taking out both my knees and tore my hip socket.”
Even after his hip replacement surgery, Davis had to call for help two more times.
His hip dislocated twice, once when he was on the stairs and another time when he was getting out of the shower.
“After having my hip replaced the second time, and going through physical therapy, then physical training, my trainer said, ‘Hey they’re recruiting at the fire station.’”
At 57-years of age, Davis didn’t think there would be a place for him on the team.
“Those young guys are so full of testosterone, they’re going to go ahead and get jacked-up, jump off the truck and run into the fire. (My therapist) goes, ‘Well, possibly someone with more mature testosterone could go ahead and, you know, think about what needs to be done.’”
The young “spitfire,” as Davis recalls, filled out an application for him. When Davis was finally called in for an interview, all he could do is be honest.
“They asked what I was doing here,” Davis said. “I said, you guys rescued me a number of times, most recently in the past year.”
“I said I raised my son and daughter here. I’ve enjoyed a great life here, and I’m going to give back to my community.”
Davis was accepted into the nine-month probationary training program. After completing it in June, the St. Joseph Stanton Department gave him a scholarship to attend the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute.
“I spent four days in 95-degree weather learning the ins and outs of being a firefighter,” Davis said. “On the fourth day, which was June 4, it was my birthday.”
The battalion chief from Chicago recognized Davis in front of his colleagues.
“He said, ‘We got someone celebrating a birthday,’” Davis recalls. “‘Have you been seen a mature gentlemen work circles around you?”
The group then sang “Happy Birthday.”
Later, when questioned about his age, Davis revealed that he just turned 58-years old.
The battalion chief spoke up, “That’s right. You’re never too young to start this whole thing.”
In his time as a firefighter, a mere two-and-a-half-years, Davis has jumped into the deep end with both feet.
“I am hooked,” he said.
Doing what he needed to in order to make sure that the team had what they needed and was running efficiently, Davis spent a Sunday afternoon in October at the station. He noticed his helmet was missing from the rack.
Davis realized that it could have been taken to change the yellow symbol on the front of the helmet, signifying that Davis was a probationary firefighter, to the red symbol on the front of his helmet, showing that he was part of the St. Joseph Stanton crew.
“I was stoked,” he said.
That evening, he got his helmet with the red symbol on it.
“Even at that age, I was just like a kid,” Davis remembers.
His very first fire was in Heather Hills. As the St. Joseph Stanton department approached the fire, the flames were above the tree line.
Davis was in charge of making sure the water trucks, which can hold between 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of water, were continually filled.
“(The Chief) said, ‘You know what you’re supposed to do,” Davis said.
“I want you on the water and I want you on the back of every water truck that comes up here, keeping that pond full.”
Davis, along with the other firefighters, were on the scene from 11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.
“I don’t know how many trips we made, but that was my first big fire and then we got it knocked down,” he said. “It was just an amazing experience.”
Since becoming a firefighter, Davis has also gone through advanced training to become an emergency medical responder. He was joined by fellow firefighter and friend, Matt Silver.
“It was four months of constant studying and meeting up here at the (Urbana) station, reviewing the material, taking the test online and going back (for practicals),” he said.
As soon as Davis received his certificate in the mail, he called Silver, who rushed to find his in the mailbox, too.
“I don’t know how many calls I went on that year,” he said. “You go out there, you’re doing double duty as a firefighter to rescue people and then as a medic to get in to help them.”
The first call Davis and Silver went on, they learned an important lesson about trauma.
The accident on I-74 left a family injured. A woman looked at Davis and asked if she was going to live.
“I know they tell you the very first thing you tell somebody is we are doing everything we can to help you,” Davis said. “And that gives them some level of calm, knowing that we’re working to help you.”
The woman and the man she was with were both in the same ambulance with Davis. His arm was broken, and he asked the same question: “Am I going to be alright?”
“She answered it for me,” Davis said. “She goes, “They’re doing everything they can to help us.”
Calls to I-74, because of accidents, increased in 2018 when IDOT was reconstructing the road between St. Joseph and Ogden. It was partly because of Davis’ foresight that St. Joseph Stanton had enough trained volunteers during the day.
Davis went through extrication rescue training and scene incident management training to make sure they did.
In the last three years, Davis has seen and experienced things that bring him to tears. He knows there are more to come.
But at the St. Joseph Stanton Fire Department, he is part of a team that understands the weight that watching someone’s home burn down or the life go out of someone’s eyes can have on the heart.
“We have a great network of firefighters here that look after each other and know what type of exposure could do,” Davis said.
Once the team returns to the fire station, they debrief the events that happened together. Four hours later, each responder gets a call from someone, asking how they are doing. Then four days later, they meet at the fire station to continue processing and to see if anyone needs professional help.
“I mean, talk about a bunch of rough and ready individuals that are compassionate for the patients that we take care of and that we are going to go ahead and minister that compassion towards each other,” Davis said.
Amongst terrible circumstances, they also get to see miracles happen.
Recently, the medical team had to respond to a call for a man who was in dire health. The man continued to be in bad shape for weeks, but the first responder team continued to check in, even though the man was not lucid.
As the firefighters got together on Jan. 20 for their family dinner, they also celebrated a life saved and a friend going back to work.
“My colleague said he said, ‘I’ve witnessed a Christmas miracle,’” Davis said.
While about 60-percent of the calls the St. Joseph Stanton Department responds to are medical emergencies, they also respond to the call when a team needs a celebratory lift through town, when Santa visits and when kids need to learn about fire safety.
“I’ve had a lot of just rewarding experiences,” Davis said. “Beyond firefighting, rescue and medical: working with individuals and seeing kids light up and helping them understand fire safety.
“We’re part of the community, and we want to be a part of the celebration, too.”
Davis was nominated for Firefighter of the Year in 2018 for his zest within the department. When Brian Martin’s name was announced, Davis was nothing but happy for the man who mentored him since the beginning.
“And then I was nominated again this year with, again, three other outstanding individuals,” Davis said.
Before Davis heard his name as the 2019 Firefighter of the Year, he knew that his turn was up.
“(Chief) said, ‘He said we had 403 calls the past year, and this individual decided to show up 186 of them. As soon as he said 186 I knew that was me,” he recalled.
Davis never met Russell Chism, former St. Joseph Stanton Fire Chief who passed away in 2015. But he does get to serve with his son, who always gives him a hard time for being the oldest guy on the squad.
“Even though I did not get the opportunity to know him during life, I have gotten to know him because of his presence here,” Davis said. “Everything we talked before here, the standards that he set in place and always raising the bar; his legacy lives on here.
“I’m still processing it. It meant so much to me because of what it means to the men and women that are here at this station.”
Davis knows that just because he’s received the high honor, his work is not finished.
“(Chief) said, “Now that you got that award, we’re really going to be watching you,’” Davis remembers.
“I get it. Tonight is a new starting line for me.”
There are currently three probationary firefighters at the St. Joseph Stanton Department. Davis is excited to continue working with them.
Just as newcomers learn, Davis is committed to finding more ways that he can help out.
“My goal was 100 hours of Fire College, but I surpassed that some time ago,” he said. With this past weekend’s training (active shooter), I am near 150 hours of training in about two-and-a-half years.
Davis keeps the wristbands he receives with each training on a carabiner in his locker at the station.
“This is how (I) got here,” he said. “This is how to stay here and pray to God we stay safe.”
He knows that most of life is just about showing up when the call arrives.
“One thing I remember the very first fire call I went to: Chicago firefighter captain Steve Williams said, ‘You always want to be that firefighter showing up to somebody’s house that you want to show up at your house.’”
These days, Davis wants to be the firefighter that shows up with the training he needs to offer victims or patients what they need. But, he also brings along his joy.
“I feel very compelled to give back to my community with joy,” he said. “You know, I just love St. Joe. I love the fire service and I appreciate the village board. I feel privileged to do both of those activities even at the same time.
“I feel privileged to be able to do that myself but to find something that I feel, I receive great gratification from.”
