Fire Fighter Profiles

FIRE FIGHTERS

FIRE NEWS

Mariah Brown practices answering a fire call.

It is 350 miles west. The team uses frozen waterways as roads through early May. They travel in snowmobiles and four-wheelers. They have to rely on boats when the ice melts. “And here, members of the team almost always know the person who’s injured or sick. So it’s very personal. There’s an emotional aspect to knowing the victim your whole life that you don’t have in a larger city,” Hess says.

Dragon Slayer Agnes Nicoli

Marteney has had to deal with her share of difficult and emotional calls. “After we have a really hard call, we all meet at the fire station. We talk about the person we may have lost, what happened on the call, what we did right,” says Marteney. “Then we do a group hug and go for a walk. It really helps.”

A World of Opportunities

Brown’s team provides vital services to an indigent, isolated region. It also opens up a world of opportunities for its members that would never be available to them otherwise. “Unless you want a job unloading and loading planes, there’s not much to strive for here,” says Brown. All of the Dragon Slayers who have left Aniak have gone on to related careers. Three alumni, one of them Brown’s daughter, Mariah, are now medic rescue swimmers.

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