Sean Kennedy
From left, firefighters Adam Bauer, Wendy Krugman, Bob Baggett and Jason Suttle clean up after dinner at Station 3.
It’s not like Backdraft. Most of the work done in a firehouse is not actually fighting fires. It’s training, cleaning, tending to the firehouse and the equipment. Saturdays, for example, are lawn days. Some days are dedicated to scrubbing the garage floor.
But there are two daily chores: shopping and cooking.
“Everybody throws in $12 that gets you lunch and dinner, usually,” firefighter Bob Baggett says. “And everyone puts in $120 for the year, and that buys basic necessities throughout the year, mustard mayo, ketchup, things like that. What we call a chow fund.”
Baggett is the cook today at Station 3 on Williamson Street. “We switch it up depending on who’s cooked recently, who has an idea, what we’ve had lately. Nothing too fancy, it’s all pretty basic stuff,” Baggett says. “Taco salad today.”
After 15 years as a firefighter, he’s done this a lot. It always starts with a plan.
“I make myself a list so I don’t forget things,” Baggett says. “Some guys can do it without a list, and sometimes that’s a good idea — you might run into the store and see what’s on sale, because 12 bucks doesn’t go as far as it used to.”
The list is made, the morning chores are done, and the station loudspeaker crackles to life. Engine three, you’re going to the store, engine three, the store.
Four firefighters pile into Engine 3, a 2015 Pierce Quantum with a 500-gallon water tank that can pump 1,250 gallons a minute. This baby could carry a lot of groceries.
They pull into Festival and split up. Baggett and firefighter Jason Suttle head into produce, then swing by the deli counter. The sale section is important. “Gotta cruise the sales,” Suttle says. “Everything we get we’re cooking that day, so it’s fine if it’s expiring tomorrow. You can stretch your budget that way.”
If a call comes while they’re shopping, they leave the cart and head out the door. The employees at Festival know to stash the cart in the cooler so nothing spoils.
That doesn’t happen today — the firefighters say of course not, there are never any calls when someone comes for a ride-along. The grocery tab ends up $1.87 over budget. Baggett says: “We call that a success.”
Baggett starts working on dinner around 5 p.m. Fajitas. “Not a lot of prep,” Baggett says. “All part of the plan,” he says with a laugh.
There’s always the risk that a call comes in halfway through the cooking. “It has ruined a couple meals, but not too many,” Lt. Adam Bauer says. Some meals survive an interruption better than others. “Grilling is tricky, you just have to take everything off and hope it’s not too long til you get back. There’s been some pasta that got way past al dente, that’s for sure.”
But with no emergency calls, dinner prep takes about half an hour. Baggett cooks up the fajitas on the station’s flat-top grill, while apparatus engineer Wendy Krugman warms tortillas right on the burners.
The whole crew eats together around a long table with a giant “Old No. 3” logo lacquered into it. It’s got old fire hydrants for legs.
There are plenty of horror stories about firefighters who should stick to putting out fires instead of tending them. “Remember when he made fish that was like sushi — but it was cod?” “When he made burgers, he started with a stick of butter.” “Oh, and the manicotti that was cold inside.” Every culinary nightmare is told with love.
On the other hand, they talk about Suttle’s recent Christmas dinner with reverence. Beef tenderloin, a turkey breast, creamy spinach, au gratin potatoes, gravy, jalapeno cornbread muffins and a peach cobbler.
Then, just like in any home, it’s time to clean up. An ambulance call pulls away the two paramedics, Warren Harms and Brian Suter, right as cleanup starts.
Groans all around. “Oh, look at that,” Baggett jokes. “Lucky guys.”
6: People on a crew at Firehouse 3. That’s one lieutenant, an apparatus engineer to drive the engine, two firefighters for the engine, and two paramedics to staff the ambulance.
3: Shifts — A, B and C — that staff the firehouse, which switch off every 24 hours. Each shift runs from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m.
1954: Year Station 3 was built, making it the oldest working firehouse in Madison.
13: Fire stations in the Madison Fire Department, housing 372 firefighters and paramedics.
83: Firefighters and paramedics on duty in Madison every day.
