RALEIGH, N.C. — There’s never a dull moment when you are working at a firehouse.

Whether it’s responding to a house fire caused by unattended food on the stove during the holidays or treating wounds on a patient, lifesaving skills kick in for Raleigh firefighters when they need them most.

Firehouse 21 Captain Darrel Adams has seen it all. From scary rapid water scenarios to intense fires to answering a call for help for a serious bodily injury.

“We get up here in the morning and make sure everything is good to go and next thing you know, that buzzer is going to hit,” Adams said.

When the alarm does sound off their training kicks into high gear. “You feel good about doing your job,” Adams said.

Like the day they stood tall on the second day of Jan. in 2021.

“We had a water rescue call on the Neuse river. We get dispatched over there and a guy is caught into a strainer. We get there and everything works fluidly, and the guys go to work,” Adams said.

A boat paddle from the averted crisis hung on the wall inside the fire station.

It is a positive memory — during a time of year when they can be away from their family and friends. 

“We were able to get down, rescue the guy off the river, and get him up. Get him handed over to EMS. EMS was able to treat the patient. You know at the end of the day we were able to save a life, and he was able to go home, and he was very thankful because of obviously what we (were) able to do for him,” Adams said.

The No. 21 fire captain said over 65% of their calls are for emergency medical issues.

“When I come to work, we may be helping people from their bad day. It’s an EMS call and they are having one of the worst days of their life, or it’s a fire, and they are having the worst day of their life and we are able to provide some type of comfort,” Adams said.

Adams said even rescue efforts can always be retooled. Sticky notes taped on a map inside the firehouse show a review of access points for water rescues. Adams said he assigned one of firemen to game plan for the future.

“We work on projects like this to see how we get better at doing our job and just get a little bit more efficient,” Adams said.

Adams has been with the RFD for more than 25 years and said he has been a captain with RFD for about six of those years.

The veteran said his favorite part of the job is facing something new every day.