Ben Gecas grew up in Pullman and has been a firefighter since he was asked whether he had free time Monday nights. He has been a reserve member since 2006, and for the past several weeks he has been considered a career crew member. On Friday night he was the ambulance driver.

“A lot of the younger guys won’t sleep because they’re too anxious to get a call,” Gecas said.

There was no shortage of experience within the crew on Friday night. The four crew members share a total of 28 years of experience in the Pullman area alone, and only one of them has less than two years of experience.

During the day, the station is not too busy, and that is when they do a lot of the work the public doesn’t see. Throughout the day, crew members will work out, maintain the station and complete their projects.

At night, the crew will call friends or FaceTime their wives to say goodnight. Once they get off the phone, they banter around the room until they receive a call. So far in January, there have been four calls for fires and 16 EMS calls, according to the Pullman City Fire Department website.

These firefighters spend a lot of time with each other, as shifts can last from 24 – 48 hours, depending on the workload. Most of the career members have their own dormitory-like rooms at the station where they keep extra clothes and toiletries.

They also spent a lot of time discussing political issues and hot topics. As public figures, they cannot disclose their own opinions on such matters, but they still discussed them thoroughly. The crew even had a designated fact-checker named Reed McPherson. McPherson was skeptical of everything, and was always sure to Google anything said.

The hot topics soon transitioned to the use of drugs in Pullman and then the crew shared stories of having to resuscitate patients in bathrooms, beat-up homes and other places, only to have some of the patients not make it.

The room went silent.

No one spoke for about 20 seconds. They changed the topic quickly and began discussing other political issues.

The busiest weeks and weekends are during big university events. Halloween week, Cougar football games and Dad’s Weekend are some of the busiest weekends, said firefighter and paramedic Jerid Hilderbrand. Friday night was slow, although this did not bother the crew.

“You guys are the white clouds,” paramedic James Young told the reporter and photographer. “As soon as you guys leave, the dark clouds are going to roll in and we are going to get four or five calls.”