Lower Merion First Responders: Brady McHale

Brady McHale, 18, is a volunteer firefighter with the Gladwyne Fire Company. When he's not battling back flames, McHale is a senior at Lower Merion High School. On Oct. 5, he sat down with Bryn Mawr Patch to talk about how he began volunteering, his favorite part of the job and more.

Name: Brady McHale

Birthday: July 26, 1993

Hometown: Wynewood, PA

Rank/Title: Firefighter, no rank as of yet

How long have you been with the Gladwyne Fire Company? Two years, since 2009.

What do you like most about the job? The excitement and having something different to do everyday—whether it's something like a fire alarm or flames shooting. It's been an exhilarating ride and definitely something out of the ordinary. When you're sitting at a family dinner on a calm Sunday night and have to run to a burning building, that's fun. It's obviously not fun for the owner of the home, but we're there to help, and that's whats fun.

What do you dislike? Nothing yet. It's just important that the public and Lower Merion understand that it's a volunteer organization. A lot of the public doesn't realize that—that their next door neighbors are doing this as volunteers.

What's the most dangerous fire or situation you've encountered? I've been here two years and haven't seen any raging fires yet. We don't really have any in Lower Merion. I've seen some destructive things in Gladwyne and we do assistance in Conshohocken sometimes, but I haven't been in a situation yet where I've looked back [and realized I was in danger] like some of the other guys who have been around for a while have. Just seeing the destruction force of fire can be an intense experience though.

What inspired you to become a fireman? My house was being demolished, a part of my house anyway. We were redoing it, and so we let the fire company come in and run drills and training sessions in there. They came in and did their drills—took down widows, smashed in walls. It was a first-hand look at how they train and what they do. Who wouldn't want to do that?

I was watching, and they asked me, "How old are you? Do you want to join?" And the next thing I know, I'm in fire school.

What do you want the general public to know about the Gladwyne Fire Company? That it's volunteers. And whether it's 1 in the afternoon and I'm in chemistry class, or if it's 3 in the morning and I'm having a dream about being the president, if a pager goes off, we get there.

And that it really is a brotherhood. I've met people here who are going to be my best friends for the rest of my life.