Firefighter Friday: Kyle Abbe From the Clark Mills Volunteer Fire Department

For this week's "Firefighter Friday," we got to see inside the life of a young volunteer firefighter from the Clark Mills Volunteer Fire Department.

Kyle Abbe is the youngest firefighter we've featured on "Firefighter Friday" so far, but don't mistake his age for inexperience. He has been with the fire department for almost three years now, he started when he was 16 as a junior firefighter.

His mother Kelly, was the one to nominate him, and in her submission form she wrote,

Kyle is 19 years old and has been a "firefighter" since he was able to walk!

So we asked Kyle what he thought him mom meant by that. He explained that when he was younger, his brother and him would run out to the corner to watch the firetrucks go by when they had a call. It was just something that stuck with him, he knew as a little kid that he wanted to be a firefighter. Plus he always "thought it was cool."

And like all the firefighters we talked to so far, it runs in the family. Kyle's father was a firefighter and his brother is a volunteer firefighter as well.

Kyle also told us about the side of firefighting that most people forget about. It's not just running into burning buildings and rescuing people. He says that most of their calls are for medical emergencies. And speaking of medical emergencies, Kyle was able to do something absolutely amazing... He was able to use his CPR skills to save someone's life. Unfortunately we couldn't go into details about it, but what an unbelievable thing to do, and only at 19-years-old! Just hearing that he was able to save someone gave us goosebumps.

Kyle also told us about his college classes he's taking for firefighting and how he's looking to work in Utica, Rome, or maybe even Syracuse. He mentions trying to be a firefighter as a full-time job (and getting paid for doing it), but also says he enjoys volunteering. And he encourages others to volunteer as well.

We asked Kyle about firefighters pulling pranks on each other (because a lot of times in movies and on TV, it's like they're a family always joking around and such). Although he says they don't pull pranks on each other where he's at (he can't speak for all firefighters), he does say they do like to joke around, have fun, and sometimes they take it a little too far. He says it's like a family, and he's probably just as close to those he works with as he is with his real family.

It has only been three years, but Kyle has already proved he's dedicated and ready to do this for the rest of his life. For that, we're proud to recognize him as our featured firefighter this week for "Firefighter Friday."

If you know of a firefighter that you think deserves recognition for the job they do, you can nominate them to be featured on our Firefighter Fridays.

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