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Profile of an Ordinary Hero
by George Cartsonis
Like so many others, Ray Ahonen's first job at age 16 was flipping burgers for a fast food chain. He really wanted to work the grill, but management insisted that he tend to customers at the drive-through.
It was training that ended up serving him well throughout his 25 year career as a firefighter. "I didn't want to work the window, but the experience taught me the value of teamwork, and, most of all, how to deal with all kinds of people", Ray says. "I still use those people skills a quarter century later when I'm talking with fire victims on what may well be the worst day of their lives."
Ray's career goal had always been firefighting – "I never really thought of doing anything else" he says, so at the age of 20 years, seven months he became the youngest recruit ever hired by the West Bloomfield Fire Department. On his twenty-first birthday he successfully delivered a baby while on duty.
During the course of his next twenty-one years at West Bloomfield, Ray rose to the rank of line lieutenant for fire and rescue deployment. He also served as the department's staff training officer and evaluator of probationary personnel.
As 9/11 so tragically demonstrated, fighting fires is a dangerous profession. In 25 years, Ray notes, he has attended the funerals of 23 firefighters killed in the line of duty.
One of Ray's own close calls came during a home fire when his air supply shut off in the midst of the 300-plus degree inferno. "Your instinct is to tear off the mask so you can breathe" Ray says, "but if I had done that, my lungs would have been seared in an instant." Ray's training prevailed as he literally dove out of the blaze to live...and fight fires another day.
In 1998 Ray interviewed for the position of Macomb Township fire chief. The opportunity to administer all aspects of emergency services delivery for a growing community was one he relished, and today he manages strategic planning, budgeting, facilities maintenance, personnel recruitment, labor relations, training, evaluation and public information duties for the department.
In addition to serving as liaison with the township's elected officials, Ray is also responsible for community fire prevention and public education. The department now boasts four full-time career officers and 47 on-call paid firefighters. It maintains two stations and 12 pieces of major apparatus, including three engines, one aerial ladder and three rescue vehicles.
The past three years have been busy ones for Macomb Township. In 1998 the department received 1,525 calls, in 2001, 2,533 calls were recorded, a 66 percent increase.
Over the years Ray has taken course work at a wide variety of schools including Madonna College, Macomb Community College, Henry Ford Community College, Siena Heights College and Oakland Community College. He earned his associate's degree in general studies in 2001.
In addition, Roy spent more than 300 classroom hours over a five year period completing OCC's Fire Officer Training I, II and III programs, - a comprehensive course of study that begins with the firefighting basics, and finishes at the advanced level for chief officers.
In view of his employment record, and having proven an outstanding student at OCC, Ray was invited back to instruct in the college's highly-respected fire training institute where he has taught classes in basic firefighting, fire administration, records, fire services tactics/administration and incident command since 1993. His supervisor, Oakland Fire Training Institute Assistant Director Ron Deadman, characterizes Ray as a thoughtful and conscientious teacher "for whom there are no dumb questions...one who can address the members of any audience – and reach them all."
At this point in his life, Ray has two major goals. The most immediate is to get to New York so he can pay his respects to friends and colleagues who were lost when Tower Two of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11.
The other is to be accepted into the prestigious National Fire Academy, a federally approved four-year program based in Emmitsburg, Maryland for training, executive fire officers. Twenty five hundred professionals apply to the program each year, but only 300 are accepted. About 150 are able to complete it.
Between managing a department, meeting family obligations to wife Kathy and daughters Lauren (13) and Katie (10) and his many other responsibilities, the next few years will be a real challenge for Ray, but given his record so far, he's bound to succeed.