Most 17 year olds have jobs in retail stores or restaurants. But Kolbey Watford from Andrews, South Carolina, serves his town as a volunteer firefighter.
Watford became interested in being a firefighter because his dad had done it for a long time. Ever since he was little, he wanted to grow up to be just like his daddy.
Following his dream, he took a fire and emergency medical services class, and became a volunteer firefighter.
Because he is only 17, he is not allowed to go inside of the burning buildings. The law requires that he stays outside of the building, so he must help from the outside.
When, Watford got called to house completely engulfed in flames, he was in charge of shuttling water from the truck at the fire hydrant to the firefighters who were inside. He also helped change the oxygen cylinders of other firefighters.
With the job comes responsibilities. Watford says, “We get called to other emergencies, like car wrecks. Our job is to get victims safely to an ambulance.” And working in the town requires Watford to help people he knows.
One night, Watford was called to the scene of a flipped truck, where both passengers were ejected. It turned out that the passengers were two of Watford’s friends. In order to help them, he was forced to move past the fact that they were his friends and focus.
Watford says, “They were both OK, though one had a concussion, and the other had a fractured leg.”
For this, Watford says firefighting requires practice.
“We practice inside buildings with controlled fires. Our goal was to rescue a 200 lb dummy…I got a rush, I felt like this is what I’m meant to do.” says Watford.