Junior Mason Curtis, 16, is not able to actually fight fires, since it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to assist in the fighting of a fire, but he earns his $30 a year by doing every task he can to help the West Pulaski County Fire Department.

“[I have volunteered] for eight months just about,” Curtis said. “Right now I pretty much run hoses, direct traffic, anything. I’m basically a gopher to anything the fire department wants me to do.”

Cleaning the trucks every Tuesday night is one of the many tasks Curtis carries out.

Curtis said his passion to become a firefighter was born at a young age because of his grandfather, who was a firefighter for 38 years.

Riding in the fire truck and sliding down the pole are a few of the memories that Curtis has with his firefighting grandfather.

“When he was working, my grandma would drive us up there just to say hi and hang out and stuff,” Curtis said.

Wanting to make it his life long career, Curtis said he feels that the experience he is getting from volunteering will help him when he is finally able to become an actual fireman.

“You don’t have to have college to be a firefighter,” Curtis said. “All you need is 49 hours of training.”

Though Curtis wants to become a firefighter, he said that whatever happens will happen. For now, he said he just enjoys working with the men at the station.

“I don’t really have favorite thing about it, but I guess just the environment and knowing that I get to see a lot of things that other people don’t get to see,” Curtis said. “But it is a stressful job.”