A Pizzazz Magazine Exclusive

Publisher Don Lemmon

Pizzazz Magazine: First of all, what is a day in your shoes like? What do you do from waking to hitting the hay each day?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I get up at 6am and head to the fire station.  There I'll sit down with the offgoing crew and have a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.  The offgoing Lieutenant will tell me if anything has changed that I need to know.  At 7am my gear goes on the fire engine for the next 24 hours.  Our day at the station is taken up with daily apparatus checks, weekly checks, training sessions, updating pre-fire plans, doing paperwork, eating, sleeping and every now and then running a call.  At 7am the next morning I go home and do it all over two days later.

Pizzazz Magazine: What would you say is the highlight of your life so far and how does it compare to your overall goals?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: My highlight has to be the day I got a job as a firefighter.  How many people get the chance to work at a job they really love?  Too few and I'm one of those lucky ones.  

Pizzazz Magazine: Who was the first person to tell you getting into what you are known for was a crazy idea? At what point did you agree (even if it was momentarily)?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Actually my family was always very supportive.  I couldn't have done it without their help and support.

Pizzazz Magazine: Have you made contacts using the internet that you know you wouldn't have if it weren't for the web being so accessible?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I'm an online computer gamer, so I have a large group of people from all over that I get to play with.  It kinda boggles my mind sometimes that I'm playing a game with people thousands of miles away.

Pizzazz Magazine: Funny how it usually works. We grow up wanting to be firefighters or nurses, then due to the glory of media, rock stars, actors, etc. and then reality sits in... We end up being ourselves... Good or bad... What's your story?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Actually I didn't dream of being a firefighter when I was a child.  I wanted to be an aerospace engineer, until I found out it involved math, or a marine biologist.  I went to college and became a theatre major and got a job working for a television station after graduating.  I grew to hate a career that revolved totally around airing commercials, when I decided to chuck it all and try and get a job as a firefighter I made the best choice of my life.  But I never expected to end up where I did.

Pizzazz Magazine: What one thing haven't you done you would still like to?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I would love to learn how to fly a helicopter, but it's going to stay a fantasy, at least until I win the lottery.

Pizzazz Magazine: Tell me one of the negative aspects of your field that everyone needs to know. Do not say there are none! The biggest lie about your work is:

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Constant training is a necessity.  Hardly any firehouse runs enough calls in all the specialized area we are trained in, so training is the substitue for experience.  We have to make sure that we are ready when the call comes.

Pizzazz Magazine: What are your 5 favorite or most frequently visited websites?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire:

-www.gameclubcentral.com is a great gaming site that I've been a member of for years, and occasionally have written game reviews for.
-www.liesandpropoganda.com is a site with a great group of people.  I consider them among my online family.
-www.specters.com is the site for an online gaming clan I belong to.  We are old, for gamers, and grumpy and have fun playing together.
-sennadar.plebian.net is a site for stories from one of my favorite online sci-fi authors.  If you love sci-fi I highly recommend his stuff.
-www.thehighroad.org is a firearm discussion site full of enthusiasts that keep the information coming and the noise to a mininum.

Pizzazz Magazine: Tell me something people do not realize about you, maybe it's not a secret, maybe it's not anything special, but it is something no one else has ever asked you about until now. What's boring to you is news to everyone else...

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I'm a member of the Single Action Shooters Society (SASS), my handle is Lefty Blackburn,  and at least once a month I dress up in traditional clothes from the 1800s and shoot six-shooter revolvers and lever-action rifles.  It's a great escape from reality and a you meet great people there.

Pizzazz Magazine: What's the craziest thing you have experienced in your work? Maybe it's something you witnessed and didn't participate in, but what would shock us, make us laugh or show us another side to things besides the obvious...

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: In my career you get to see the best and worst of human nature.  One time at a structure fire one of our firefighters came running out of the building.  Held at arm's length, with it's claws going a mile a minute, was a racoon that he had rescued from the burning house.  For some reason it wasn't greatful to it's rescuer and was trying to escape instead.  It's one of the funniest images I can remember.

Pizzazz Magazine: Anything embarrassing happen when YOU were trying to look cool? What? Embarrassing and crazy are different things!

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: One time when I was showing the truck to a group of kids my pants split.  I had to put on my bunker pants until we got back to the station.

Pizzazz Magazine: Tell us a few sites that friends of yours own that would appreciate a plug:

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Well any of the sites I mentioned earlier would be good places to go.  But my biggest suggestion is to take the time to go up to your local public servants and tell them you appreciate the job they do.  It really makes my day when someone does that.

Pizzazz Magazine: The biggest PLUS FACTOR about your line of business is:

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: We are automatically the good guys until we prove otherwise, especially to children.  We get to use some very cool and expensive equipment to help people out.  Sometimes we make a real difference.

Pizzazz Magazine: Did the people around you change when you went out looking to succeed in this field? Sometimes those who weren't so supportive in the beginning, suddenly become supportive or possibly vice versa; they became thorns in your side....

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I've always been blessed with good co-workers and a supportive family.  The few exceptions have only accentuated that fact.

Pizzazz Magazine: What question makes you crazy whenever asked and hopefully saying so here will prevent it from being asked again?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Do you really rescue cats out of trees?

Pizzazz Magazine: Who do you see on TV, in film or hear on the radio that just makes you wonder how in the hell they got where they are?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I actually don't watch much television after working at a station.  Other than that I'm not that critical a viewer, I try and appreciate each work for it's strengths.  But I'm not sure when we started venerating politicians and atheletes and actors for who they are rather than what they have done.  It seems like public opinion is very fickle and fleeting, valueing style over substance, rhetoric over actions.

Pizzazz Magazine: Tell me a joke!

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire:

Q: What's the closest distance between two puns?
A: A straight line!

Pizzazz Magazine: What music group do you listen to most often and what is their best album?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I'm all over the place musically, but one of my favorite groups is Pink Floyd.  Dark Side of the Moon may be the perfect rock album.  My favorite alternative group is the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Pizzazz Magazine: Who should hang up their hat in your business? Why?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Anyone who has lost sight of why they went into the fire service in the first place.  We are called to an emergency for a specific reason, but we need to put the needs of person in distress before anything else.  If you forget that don't bother coming to work.

Pizzazz Magazine: Tell me your favorite movie genre, name a few titles, think video rental or dvd's you own and watch the most:

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Just one?  That's almost as difficult to narrow down as music.  I love westerns, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, James Bond thrillers and musicals just to name a few.  A sample from each category? Silverado, Star Wars V:The Empire Strikes Back, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Arc, You Only Live Twice and Singing in the Rain.

Pizzazz Magazine: What TV show do you miss from childhood... I used to love Land of the Giants and Dance Fever (kidding on that one)....

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I miss the Muppet Show,  Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Schoolhouse Rock.  Conjunction junction, what's your function...

Pizzazz Magazine: Ever had someone from your past try and track you down and bug the tar out of you? I know this seems like the same questions as, "did people change" but it isn't meant to be.... Maybe we can put a little tact in people's future efforts here...

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Not really.  I seem to have compartmentalized my life into distinct phases.  I regret losing touch with some of my good friends from the past.

Pizzazz Magazine: If you were anyone besides yourself, who would you be (even for just a day, on a good day, of course) and did you emulate them growing up or is this a recent admiration you have acquired?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: I have several people in my field I admire for their accomplishments or knowledge, but I use them as a goal of what I should aspire to reach.

Pizzazz Magazine: Who in your business would you like to say, "Hey, remember the time someone hooked you up and now look where you are? How about hooking me up with... (blank)?" Insert the BLANK....

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: Hmmm, can't think of anyone specific.  I hope that all the good acts I do are remembered eventually and all the slights I offer are eventually forgiven.

Pizzazz Magazine: What did we forget?

Josh O'Quin aka Tex Fire: We forgot to include a deep quote that would make the reader sit back and say, "Hey that's a rather clever fellow."  Unfortunately I'm not, so I guess we'll have to leave it that way.