FIREHOUSE ROAD

Maggie Mitchell, Firefighter
Loch Sheldrake Fire Department

Years in service: 7

Occupation: College student, 

 

As a child, action figures were among Maggie Mitchell’s favorite toys, and those action figures were firefighters.

 

“I wished I was them,” Mitchell says of the playthings. Plus an uncle and a cousin were both in the volunteer fire service, real life superheroes to young Maggie. 

 

That childhood wish - to become a real firefighter - was realized about seven years ago when Mitchell joined the Loch Sheldrake Fire Department. 

 

“The most challenging part is balancing college and the firehouse. Trying to work, attend classes, and finding time to attend calls is really difficult,” Mitchell acknowledges. “But you have to trust the process. When you feel like you won't fit in, or you are not doing your best, just know it happens. It takes a while to get adopted into the family, you have to prove you want to be there and help people.”

 

Michell found a mentor in Aaron Wizwer, and that made all the difference.

 

“Ever since I joined he was willing to talk to me and eager to get to know me. He would answer all my questions as I was trying to learn and never seems to get angry at me no matter the question or how many I asked,” Mitchell says. “I want to be as good a firefighter as him, and a good person like him.” So Mitchell keeps coming back. 

 

Says Mitchell, “I love helping people and making some of the worst times of their lives a little better.”