It All Started One Day

About the Book

As noted in this book, I began my firefighting career at age 18 in 1962. That career ended in 2005 when I retired from the fire service. In 1980, I had left New York and moved to Tennessee where I was advised that because I had already passed my 35th birthday, I was too old to be a fire fighter. Instead, I worked various jobs to pay the bills but my heart was still to be in the fire service. After 4 long years, I was able to move again only this time to Florida. Almost immediately when we relocated to Florida, I was asked to join a volunteer fire department. The rest is history. While growing up in New York, I had several relatives in the fire service in our community along with a few of the neighboring departments. Their stories always captured my attention and interest. Of course, I enjoyed being a kid but I especially loved the firemen’s parades. Those men marched down the main streets of the villages with so much pride it totally captured my childhood. All their highly polished trucks, the marching bands, the smart, sharp uniforms and the great number of firefighters was very exciting to me. Even to this day, when I walk into a fire station, the first thing I acknowledge is the aroma of smoke. Automatically that aroma brings back many fond memories. I have fulfilled my life’s dream.

Gerard Felice

About the Author