This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Paul Hare knows his way around a fire engine. When he arrived on duty for his 48-hour shifts, he would walk up and down the truck making sure all the equipment was in the right place.
"I could tell you what was missing. It didn't matter which station I was at. All the trucks are the same. That was my baby. It's the world's biggest toolbox and it's fun to work with," said Hare, a captain with Salt Lake County's Unified Fire Authority, during a down moment at the Draper fire station Saturday. Normally a supervisor at the Taylorsville station, Hare was filling in Christmas Eve with firefighter-paramedics Brad Jewett and Ben Edgeworth.
"We live with [holiday shifts]. After 34 years, I'm used to it," said Hare, better known by his nom de guerre "Hareball."
At Unified and the Salt Lake Valley's other fire departments, crews are staffed with the full compliment of emergency responders over Christmas. Crashes, fires and injuries don't schedule themselves according to a calendar. They happen on Christmas, and the public expects emergency crews to respond.
"We are there to help you, to help you fix your problems. It doesn't matter who's calling, we're showing up," Hare said moments before getting called out to assist someone suffering chest pains.
But before the crew left, a free meal arrived.
"We would like to hit every department in the valley during the year," said Roger Livingston, co-founder of R&R BBQ in Salt Lake City. "Our business has been so successful we would like to give back."
Livingston and his colleagues with the Four Foods Group, which owns a 40 percent share of R&R, drove around the South Valley on Saturday delivering barbecue and baked goods to fire and police stations in Draper, South Jordan and Lehi. The baked goods came courtesy of Kneaders, the 43-bakery chain Four Foods operates.
Firefighters' shifts last two days, followed by four days off. They prepare their own meals with food they buy and they clean up after themselves. So the free BBQ delivery made a difference for these three Unified firemen, for whom working Christmas is difficult enough.
"It's hard if you have kids at home, it's hard," said Edgeworth, whose own children are 7 and 9.
Whether a firefighter is assigned to work a holiday is purely luck of the draw.
"It depends which platoon you are on. Some years you may not have to work Christmas or Christmas Eve at all; others you might have to work one of the other."
Or both. Edgeworth agreed to work a colleague's shift Saturday so he could be with his family.
"We trying to help each other out," he said. "This year the A shift falls on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day."
But whether it's Christmas or just another day, Hare said the public can expect full service from his department regardless of the call's level of significance.
"I tell my guys, 'You are now the brother, son or uncle or daughter of the person who called. You are now a member of the family and you are there to help them. If you couldn't save the person, comfort the family. If the house burnt down, you saved the next door neighbor's house, didn't you? You need to understand when you walk through that door you are now that trusted member of the family, you are their last resort,'" said Hare, an Army reservist who has served numerous combat tours dating back to Viet Nam. "If you need help getting up, we will help you and it's free. Until we put your butt in an ambulance, we don't charge you."
Twitter: @brianmaffly