By Brian Trompeter
Plenty has changed since Jonathan Wood, president of the Fair Oaks Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company Association, began volunteering with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department a half-century ago.
“Over 50 years ago, a runny-nosed kid got some firefighter training and some first-aid training and went on his first call, hanging on the back step of a fire engine speeding down the road,” Wood said, after being honored March 7 by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. “Thankfully, we don’t do that anymore. Somehow, I was able to survive and had some close calls, more than I care to admit here in public.”
He added, “Over 50 years of running into burning buildings when other people were running out. There’s a touch of insanity in there somewhere.”
Wood joined the Fair Oaks Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company in 1982 after serving for a decade as a junior member of the Greater Springfield Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department. He has held many operational and leadership roles during his tenure, including chief, deputy chief, president and vice president, said Supervisor Kathy Smith (D-Sully), who read the honorary resolution.
Wood, who also has served as president of the Fairfax County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, is an instructor at the county’s Fire and Rescue Academy and a former member of the Fairfax County Technical Rescue Operations Team. He has managed the procurement of numerous fire engines, ambulances and utility vehicles, and has volunteered nearly 7,000 hours with the department.
“Your dedication sets an example for other people in the community,” Smith said.
“Fifty years is incredible,” added Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay (D). “There are some people at the dais who weren’t alive when you joined the ranks of the volunteers . . . It takes a special someone to volunteer in public safety, to put on the uniform, to do the dedicated work – sometimes traumatic, not always fun, but always important work of our public-safety officials.”
Firefighters respond to incidents to help residents on some of the worst days of their lives and serve as a strong shoulder for those who needed help, Wood said.
“I would like to think I’ve earned my gray hair and wrinkles honestly, and I’ve probably given some other people gray hair and wrinkles, too, but it all comes with the job,” he said. “I’m a better person for the thousands of calls that I’ve been on, the people I’ve worked with and the skills that I’ve learned over the years.”
