Firefighter Field Day held in Dover
Children who watch the firetrucks zooming past and dream of one day riding on such a truck as a firefighter seldom get a chance to see such professionals in action.
The Firefighter Field Day, held at Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds on June 11, provided just that opportunity with trucks old and new, helicopters, fire-hose competitions, and demonstrations all day long.
The event, sponsored by HRN Construction, Dover Exchange Club and Yoder’s Small Engine of Baltic, raised money for Akron Children’s Hospital Burn Camp, and Jeff Mizer, Firefighter Field Day board president, said he expected to have raised more than $10,000 by the end of the event.
“It’s a firefighter exhibition of skills,” Mizer said. “There’s a combat challenge, a pull-up challenge, a tire flip, a water barrel battle and a midnight alarm.”
Spectators watched as firefighters simulated the rescue of a 200-pound person by carrying a heavy mannequin around the fairgrounds track, repeatedly flipped a large tractor tire weighing several hundred pounds and did other physically demanding activities.
Fire Chief James Marraccini of Mohawk Valley Fire District was honored for his longtime service as a firefighter. He was presented with the James A. Harrison Legacy Award, which honors the memory of the late Sugarcreek fire chief.
Marraccini said being a firefighter was something he wanted to do from his earliest memories. “I started as a firefighter in 1970. I actually lied about my age to join the department in Waynesburg. I wanted to join the Navy because they had the best firefighting program of all the services.”
A perforated eardrum prevented the Navy stint, and he has been a firefighter ever since.
Such a long career has seen many changes in the profession, and Marraccini remembers firefighters clinging to the back of the speeding trucks in all weather, hauling out hoses and doing a lot of manual work.
“Today, we arrive at the fire after being transported inside the $500,000 truck, press a couple of buttons and we are literally ready to go. It’s just that simple. It has changed quite a bit in many ways, but it’s mainly a modernization of equipment. We still perform rescues the same way, and we do CPR the same way,” Marraccini said.
Marraccini said the difficult part of the job now is in finding new people to fill the ranks. “There’s an awful lot of time-consuming training today, with more than 200 hours of required continuing education every year in addition to initial 240 hours of training. It’s getting up at four in the morning and facing a potentially dangerous situation. And it’s getting harder to find people to do all that on a volunteer basis with no pay.”
What can young people who dream of donning the helmet to fight fires do to prepare?
“As I tell my granddaughter, who wants to be a firefighter in the worst way,” Marraccini said, “no matter what you choose to do with your life, no matter what your passion is, whether it’s being a firefighter or a doctor or a teacher or anything else, you have to give back to your community. You have to do things to help the people in your community. That is what is important.”
Marraccini said he was humbled and honored to receive the award.
Mizer said the Firefighter Field Day is a free annual event. Departments from Magnolia, Canton City, Baltic and Paint Township were at the rally in full force, with others participating in a more modest way.
