Embracing Solitude

When I first joined Litchfield Fire I felt right at home. My dad had been a Captain there so there were some familiar faces. All was well in the first few months of my membership. I made some new friends, started Firefighter 1&2, and made even more friends in that program as well. But when it came to meetings and training, I did as my dad said, “Keep your head down and do your best”—that’s what I did for my first few months, until one day that changed my whole attitude.

On March 24, 2024, Firefighter Thibeault, Capt. Stevens, Deputy Chief Laroche, and myself responded to a car fire off of Rte. 126 in Litchfield. We responded, did our job, and left…. or so I thought. Once we got back to the station we dropped off the hose tray and went to fill the truck, when we got to the station everyone else was shooting the shit and so I started doing chores and minding my own business. While waiting for the truck to be rinsed off, we all gathered and started talking. That’s when D.C. Laroche walked over and interrupted. He immediately yelled at me and singled me out. Told me, ” You didn’t do anything at the call, and just leaned against the truck”. He continued by saying, “You don’t listen to orders, I told you to do something and you ignored me”. In the moment I ignored it, I took it with a grain of salt as F.F. Siderio told me to. But when he called me out and said “If you just want a ride in the truck then you shouldn’t be in the department at all”. That got me fired up, of course, I kept my composure in the moment. In the following days I was at the station for our monthly meeting and F.F. Haines pulled me aside to inform me that D.C. Laroche was gunning to kick me off the department. I felt so alone being singled out by him, I had never done anything to irritate him, I know he had problems with my dad but that shouldn’t play a role in it at all.

I informed Captain Stevens of this and he immediately took action. He had me and the other Firefighters involved write letters of concern to the Chief. Making us handwrite all the details that played a factor in the story. I started writing my letter immediately making sure not to leave any details out. Once we all completed the letters we submitted them to Captain Stevens and he delivered them to the Chief. A few weeks had passed and I thought “Maybe nothing will happen and Chief forgot about us”. I was wrong, just as I lost hope the Chief had pulled us aside after a meeting and informed us that he would take appropriate action and that he was furious with this whole situation. As of now, no action has been taken to my knowledge but I do know that I was alone in an instant. I spent forever making friends at Litchfield, just for it to all be gone in an instant, making me feel completely alone.

“Alone” by Andrei! is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.