First Responder: Firefighter/EMT Daniel Day

Name: Daniel Day

Age: 47

Hometown: Originally from Chicago, Ill.

Rank/Title: Firefighter/EMT (Snellville Fire Station, No. 12)

How long with the Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services?

"Three years."

What inspired you to become a firefighter?

"Well, I previously sold real estate, and I was looking for something more stable with retiring benefits, and so I joined the fire department."

What do you like about your job?

"Hanging with these goof balls."

What don't you like about the job?

"The only thing I can think of is probably when we're up all day running calls, and you get no sleep. No sleep. Or, if the guy next to you in the bunk snores."

Most-memorable time fighting a fire?

"I think it was last year, we did a cardiac arrest. We ended up bringing her back."

How do you balance your work as a firefighter with home and family time?

"Sometimes you don't get the days off like anniversaries and holidays, and so forth, but you just have to deal with it. That's what we do...You improvise. We adapt. We overcome."

What advice do you have to others who may want to be firefighters?

"I think a lot of it is getting in the right frame of mind to do what we do."