Name:             Bob McCrillis

Age:                64

Hometown: Kittery, Maine

High school: Robert W. Traip Academy

College: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute B.S.; University of Buffalo, M.A.

Family: Wife of 23 years, Linda; blended family of four grown daughters, Leah, Liz, Alana and Aileen; four grandsons, three of which are nine (as set of twins) and one is six.

Fire Company: Doylestown Fire Company No. 1

Years Volunteering: Four

What really made you want to be a firefighter?   

I actually applied assuming that I would be detailed to sweeping up the station and polishing the trucks; I was looking for a way to give something back to the community and help a valuable service in Doylestown. 

Imagine my surprise when the officers decided I should go through the normal training and work as an active firefighter. After the first 180-hour training program, I realized that I truly enjoyed actively helping in emergency situations. 

Since then, I’ve gotten qualified as a medical first responder, vehicle rescue technician and am working on getting qualified as a driver/pump operator.  The payback is knowing that you are actually competent to help in an emergency; that if something were to happen, you don’t have to stand around and try to figure out what to do. 

As a side note: I think I am the oldest recruit ever graduated from fire school.

Tell one story you'll never forget about your firefighting experience.

Pulling up to a residence and seeing flames shooting twenty feet in the air out of the windows and the roof, and realizing that there were other homes within ten feet on either side of the house that was on fire.

What do you most want people in the community to know about the work?

There is very little more satisfying than being able to extricate someone from a crashed car or knock down a fire before it destroys a neighbor’s home.  It’s a lot of work, but well worth it.