A firefighter, a police officer

By Marsha Morrow
Monadnock Ledger Staff.

PETERBOROUGH - Brian Wall was about 5 years old when he told the grown-ups he wanted to be a firefighter and a policeman. They looked at him and shook their heads. He certainly couldn’t be both they informed the youngster.

“I said, ‘No, I’m going to be a fireman and a policeman.’”

So at 13, the Long Island native became a Fire Cadet, and at 18 he had taken all of the courses and training to become a certified EMT. Four years later he was dividing his time between responding his hometown volunteer fire department in Bethpage, N.Y., and was working as a police officer 25 miles away at the New York City Police Department.

Wall worked his way up to become a fire chief and at the same time went up through the ranks at the police department so that when he turned 30 he had the dual roles of fire chief and police sergeant. He always wore a pager, and after cell phones were issued he always had one glued to his ear.

That he retired from his two jobs at age 42 and moved to Peterborough in no way signified that he had burned out, he said. In fact, he is wearing a pager again and is on call again. In December, he joined the Peterborough Fire Department.

His superiors quickly caught on to Wall’s dedication and commitment to the work and with his longtime experience, Fire Chief Joseph Lenox in July turned to Wall when the department needed an interim fire lieutenant.

Wall’s workweek has changed, though. Instead of leaving home in the morning and driving major highways into the city, he makes his way along the area’s back roads to Goffstown High School where he works as a full-time EMT.

“I always wanted to live in the country,” said Wall. “I probably wouldn’t have left New York as early as I did, but 9-11 changed that.”

He was called out right after the World Trade towers were hit on Sept. 11 and worked almost non-stop at the site until May 2002.

“I reevaluated what I was doing and figured my nine lives were used up at that point,” said Wall. “I loved the police department and the Bethpage Fire Department, but I love my family more.”

He turned 41 on Sept. 11, 2001, and was off duty when New York City police paged him to say a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. “I jumped into my fire chief’s car and drove into work with Dale, a fellow Bethpage firefighter and a New York City police officer in emergency services,” Wall said.

On the way in they talked about the enormity of the catastrophe. “We realized there was a good chance we would not make it home,” Wall said. We and I don’t want to sound too dramatic said our goodbyes, if you know what I mean. Then we put our heads in the game and said, ‘Let’s do it, be careful, and good luck.’”

As soon as they arrived at the towers, Wall put together a team. They were about to enter the North Tower, but another supervisor stopped Wall to relay some information. “At that point, the tower started to collapse and we all got split up,” he said. “As soon as the heavy cloud began to dissipate I went back to where the tower was. There was no one around, but out of nowhere, Dale appeared. We stood there by ourselves for what seemed like a long time, just standing amongst the rubble in total amazement that we managed to survive.”

Wall worked 16-hour days in the aftermath of the disaster. Here and there he caught a few hours of sleep, usually at the command center in Manhattan. Then, with the anthrax scare that followed he had to assign special teams to respond to the anthrax calls.

“Training has a lot to do with staying calm, and the sheer volume of handling emergencies helps, too,” he said. “When you are supervising rescue workers you have to stay calm, because you set the tone. If you loose it, it all goes downhill from there.”

In Bethpage he was always on call, always a fire volunteer, Wall maintained. It’s pretty much the same for him today. “When you’re at work, you’re at work, when you’re at home, you’re a fire volunteer,” he said.

When Wall was needed in the city, there were times he could leave the firehouse and go into the police department; if there was a major fire in Bethpage, he could leave New York for the fire station.

As a law enforcement officer he was never really off duty. He always carried a gun, and was ready to act if he happened to be in a place where an officer was needed. “There were times I took police action at fire and accident scenes before the local police arrived, so even though I was driving my (fire) chief’s car, I was had a ‘police mind set.’”

Wall was always available by telephone for the fire department, so much so that a phone was always glued to his ear. “My work was very exciting, though. I actually enjoyed going to work,” he said. “I know a lot of people can’t say that about their jobs.”

Today the father of three is settled in a quiet Peterborough neighborhood. “My goal when I retired was to spend more time with my kids,” he said.

He describes himself as “a 24-7 fire volunteer,” but with his job in Goffstown, he can come home in the afternoon for one of his children’s games.

His 16-year-old daughter, Kimberly, “came here kicking and screaming,” Wall said. “Now she loves it and would not go back to New York. Thomas is 10 and he loves it here. He really enjoys nature and the country. Our youngest, Eric, is 6 and we can’t get him out of the woods. He and Thomas play outside as much as possible. I really like this, because I don’t have to worry about them getting hit by a car in front of the house like I used to.”

Wall’s wife, Janine, is a graphic designer who works at home. Like her husband, she had long dreamed about living in the country.

Away from town from early morning until about 4 in the afternoon during the workweek, Brian is stationed in the nurse’s office at Goffstown High, doing everything from applying Band-Aids to caring for kids with broken legs.

“There is nothing tough about my new schedule,” he said. “It’s rewarding, spending time with teenagers and being able to help them out. Lots of times they come in with questions or concerns about muscle soreness or sporting injuries, but most of the time they just need reassurance that they’re going to be OK.”

Although his workweek schedule is different and he isn’t faced with the decisions he had to make in New York, some of his responsibilities will never change. “The danger level has certainly been reduced, but it still exists,” said Wall. “Firefighting is dangerous, no matter where you are. In some respects it is more dangerous here in Peterborough because we do not have the manpower I had in New York and so we are trying to get the job done with fewer people.”

He stressed that though there may be fewer firefighters in Peterborough they are highly motivated and dedicated. “I am very proud to be part of the organization,” Wall said. “From the second I walked in the door of the firehouse I was welcomed like I was a long lost brother. What a great group of people.”

Despite its small size, the town department has an impressive array of equipment. He said, “Peterborough’s budget doesn’t come close to Bethpage, but the Fire Department members who had to equip it did a fantastic job with the funds they had to work with. It is obvious to me that they did an enormous amount of research to get the best for their money.”

Although he is on call for the Fire Department, Wall always carries a pager. His aim when he leaves work each day is to be home in time to take his kids to all of their activities or work out at the Monadnock Community Hospital’s Wellness Center. “That takes up most of the time,” he said.

Sundays are taken up with Pop Warner Football, but then he heads home to watch the Patriots. “I was never a sports fan, because I did not have the time,” said Wall. “When I moved here, though, my son got me interested in football and now I am one of those Sunday football guys that the wives complain about.”

Thursday, September 30, 2004