"Jake" was drawn to firefighting at an early age, awed by and respectful of the power of fire. People around him could tell that they were valued and longed to spend time with him. He loved fighting fires, but excelled at caring for those at the scene of an emergency. Like most of his colleagues, Jake saw being a firefighter and E M T as a calling. Jake was diagnosed with job-related leukemia and died three days later on October 7, 1992.