In a good movie, in the first 15 minutes or so, there must be an inciting incident. This sets the theme.

In my career I had three in the first few months.

The first was an EMS call. The light unit was sent with me and a more experienced fireman: Code 3 to a nice house. A middle-of-the-night call to a difficulty breathing. At that time, we had not become EMTs yet and carried all our equipment in a small tackle box and a thing called a Flynn ventilator.
We were shown to the bedroom by a worried family. We found a woman, past our help, in the bed. The other firefighter took the family into the living room and told them she had passed on. It was my first time dealing with a family losing a loved one and his compassionate professionalism served as a role model for me for the next 25 years.

The next was my first big fire. Up to that moment, turning the corner and seeing flames roaring out of the windows of an apartment building, being a fireman had been a concept. I had been to fires in the academy but the organized chaos of a real fire scene was awesome. This was the moment when the realization that you are the one who will be running in when everyone else is running out really hits. It is in that moment when you make the commitment to the life, or you find something else to do.

The third was a rescue call. I was working relief at a two-piece engine company when a rescue call came in. As was the S.O.P., the hose wagon responded with the engineer and me. A crew had been excavating a hole in the street to work on a water main. They had been told the water had been shut off down the line. It had not. When the guy in the hole cut the main he was knocked down by the force of the water and trapped in the large cave-like hole carved below the street. When we arrived, the water had been shut off and a worker was in the hole holding the victim's head above water. The street above the victim was in danger of collapse and someone needed to get into the hole and get the guy out. I looked around and realized it was going to have to be me. Being trapped in a cave-in was a gruesome possibility but it was on that day when I went into the hole I really understood what it was to be a fireman. I did get the guy out. His leg was wedged under the main and by cutting his pants I freed him. Unfortunately, he died later in the hospital.

We all have our inciting incidents that set the tone of our careers and lives. Those of us lucky enough to be in the fire service get to live ours as part of the great adventure.

Note: Apologies about using fireman and firefighter interchangeably. It is hard to teach an old dog, new tricks.