June 18 might be a bit anticlimactic for Greg Ireland as the last official day before retirement.
With some holiday reservations, Ireland opted to work their last shift last weekend and use their paid time off for the remaining weeks. That didn’t make the reality any less pungent.
“Coming out on the last day was emotional,” he said in an interview with The Batavian. “It’s definitely part of my lifestyle. The emotions came in waves. It was the right decision at that time, I will have the opportunity to be at home with my family… it will allow me more time with my family and my children. That was the main driver behind it.
After nearly 23 years as a city employee, Ireland is a recognizable face throughout the community. He started as an emergency medical technician when the city owned and operated its own ambulance service. He considers September 4, 1999 “the best day of my life” for a career change in radio – and the planes and helicopters used for some of his traffic reporting work.
“In fact, I flew for almost two years every morning. I did it for a bunch of stations in Buffalo,” he said. “It was a great experience, but not what I wanted to do.”
So, a graduate of Alexander High School and Genesee Community College, he worked in Buffalo for a while before moving. He started as an EMT in 1999, after volunteering for the Alexander Fire Department, and a year or two before that, Ireland took a first aid course. The writing appeared to be on the wall before an Irish teenager took serious note of it. He worked his way up from basic to mid-level EMT to paramedic. In 2002, he was offered a job as a firefighter, which was a major goal.
Much of it was dedicated to community service, he said.
“I had family members who are volunteer firefighters and I was interested in that. I actually took a first aid course and was probably 14 or 15 years old. I joined the Alexander Volunteer Fire Department when I was 16,” he said. “And then I got involved in EMT classes and I’ve always been involved in it, and then in 1999 the opportunity came up to do it. There’s a job. Yeah. It became a great career.”
The Batavian asked Ireland to name a few scenarios on…
The most surprising thing about being a firefighter: “How much camaraderie there is among the people I work with, the family atmosphere. It’s unlike any other profession, any other job I’ve been in before,” he said. “It’s pretty special to be part of the fire department; just that family vibe. It’s weird, because the people I work with, I know their wives, their families, their children. You know, it’s a little different from a regular office job, per se.
A scary moment at work: “I don’t want to sound cheesy, but there’s always like, people call us the worst day. And when other people run away, we run. So it’s, I guess, it’s still kind of scary, but it’s the training and that in the preparation that we’ve had for it, we understand what to do and how to deal with it. So I was never really scared, just I was more prepared and handled it.
A ritual or routine at the start of each day: “When I arrived at work, whether it was a day or night shift, or certain routines that we go through, especially as a captain, shift manager, it was my responsibility to prepare the log sheet for that shift. work: who was working and what position, and that was part of our accountability system,” he said. “So we knew who was assigned to what position and what vehicles and that’s when that the commander comes on duty, whether it’s day or night, that’s the first thing we do. And then, I always called it “walking on the ground”, where I would go out to the vehicles, I would put these assignment sheets in each vehicle and I would pull out my gear, I would lay it out next to my motor 11 drive location and get it ready so I could walk in there anytime to make a call…to give me a feeling okay, if there was a certain vehicle in use, then what vehicles used were we that day or that night. A routine just so I knew I was ready for myself and my crew.
A most rewarding working time: “Not a single one in particular, a moment that blew my mind. But one of the most rewarding roles I had to do was being a fire prevention officer. And when I was able to get out, that whether it’s in schools or wherever we run a fire prevention program, and just having that face to face interaction. Especially with the kids. And hopefully that would be my lasting legacy that I was able to make an impression positive about kids, and whether it’s to reduce their fear of firefighters or to make them more confident in an emergency, so they know what to do,” he said. “I always thought I was lucky to be able to be the fire prevention officer and coordinate those visits with schools and so on. And over the last couple of years it’s been tough with COVID, yeah, but we’ve definitely, we’ve gotten creative with it.
Lessons you learned: “That there are a lot of really caring people here in Genesee County, and in this area, it’s amazing. Often we have met people on their worst day. And something so bad can happen in their life, but often people keep a positive mindset. It’s incredible. Especially nowadays, you don’t see it too much, do you? A lot of people are like, something could go so wrong, but they’ll be like, well, it could be worse, you know, they put a positive spin on it. And going to the schools, the teachers, the administrators, they’re amazing. The work they do for the children of this community is something else.
Top 2 memories that will always stay with you: 1. “My first call I took in 1999, on my first day on the job, I still remember it.” 2. “2009 was a difficult year. (The city offered to sell the ambulance service.) And I was intimately involved in that as union president at the time. So yeah, it was that transition. Just the way it all happened. I wish there had been more open communication between the city and us back then. There was none, and we moved on.
That’s not to say he doesn’t remember those many other firefighting situations, he said. There was a time when a woman stood at a window, desperate to get out of the burning house. He could see her head through the second-story window as a ladder climbed to bring her out.
“And as we were climbing the ladder, she passed a baby through the window,” he said in disbelief.
Ireland has also risen through the professional ranks, rising from firefighter to lieutenant in 2015 and captain in 2018.
“I really enjoyed being a firefighter…that was the end goal, getting promoted to the fire department as a firefighter. And on the other hand, in the 13 years that I was a firefighter to become a lieutenant, I really enjoyed my time as a firefighter, and almost grateful for the time I spent as a firefighter before to be promoted to officer, if that makes sense,” he said. “Just being a firefighter, learning the trade and enjoying that part of the job before I was, and I was very grateful to be promoted, but to be a firefighter before I was promoted in the direction of things.”
He saw a saying somewhere that a parent only has 18 summers to spend with their children before they go off to college. It has motivated Ireland to dig even deeper into family life and enjoy his family, including his wife Ginelle and two daughters, Lauren, 10, and Morgan, 7. There will be outdoor gatherings, swimming, fishing, exploring new parks, plenty of day trips, an annual hike in the Adirondacks and a few times a year in Florida, a-t -he declares.
“And that doesn’t seem like a lot. But I’ve known since I was a kid how busy my parents were,” he said.
Now for the exciting part of his story, as Ireland more fully launches the business he bought in January. It all started around this time a year ago when he started talking with Jim Russell, a former councilman who owned Southern Tier Fire Extinguisher. Russell was planning to retire and Ireland saw another opportunity, he said.
“I bought the business, the assets, the equipment, the inventory,” Ireland said. “I wouldn’t say a name change is out of the question in the future…obviously Southern Tier Fire Extinguisher is because it originated in Wayland. So that made sense. Obviously he won a lot more business in that area and kept the southern strand, and I hope to do the same.
The activity covers the service, inspection and recharging of fire extinguishers. It will also work with fire suppression systems in kitchens, restaurants and automotive fire suppression systems and service bays, he said.
“It’s crazy, pretty much just the opportunity, that it’s been a great career, and I was so lucky that in 1999, as I said, it was the best day of my life. life to start in the fire department, and I was just lucky to be a part of that,” he said. “Hopefully I did well and that continues with the next generation. The only constant thing is change. And people change and I’m sure they’ll do a good job.
Top photo: Captain Greg Ireland of the Batavia City Fire Department at this year’s Memorial Day Parade; and posing with his family when he was sworn in as a lieutenant of the city fire department in 2015. His daughters are ‘super excited’ to spend more time with dad now that he’s retired from the service of the town of Batavia, he said. Photos submitted.
