Warner Is Responder Of The Week

news1@ulyssesnews.com

Grant County Firefighter Kris Warner didn’t know he wanted to be a firefighter. A mechanic by trade, the Ulysses native operates Warner Automotive in Ulysses, but when the emergency tones come over the radio, he rushes into danger to help save lives and property.

Nominated by Ulysses Police Chief Ron Vagher, Warner has been a firefighter for 12 years and was content with being a mechanic and raising his three daughters with his wife.

He went to college for four years and ended up working for BMW as a mechanic, but the corporate life was not for him, so he came home to Ulysses.

“I didn’t know that I wanted to (become a firefighter),” Warner said. “I had a brother-in-law that took me to a fire training here on a Tuesday night, and he thought I might find it interesting.

“And I really did, I fell in love with everyone, so I just kept going back and ended up joining.”

Warner says the department trains on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month.

“So, we do a lot of on-the-job training with that,” Warner said. “And then John Crosby, our chief, is very good about getting us training.”

The department partners with Garden City Community College for training in Firefighter 1, Firefighter 2, and Hazardous Materials.

“And then there’s some fire schools in the area, too, you can attend,” Warner added.

Warner said being a firefighter is an adrenaline rush, “That’s the selfish side of it,” he said.

“The unselfish side of it is you’re always there helping somebody when it’s a really bad day for them,” he added. “You can always try to be a light for them or try to just ease their crappy day. So, I think that’s probably the best part of it is helping somebody that’s in need.”

Warner said there seems to have been a change in the severity of wildfires in his 12 years as a firefighter, because of drier conditions.

“We’ve had to evolve some, in order to fight those fires,” he said. “The one recently we had out east was definitely a challenge. Some people who live out there called me to say ‘Hey, thank you.’”

People got to see the fire department work in a bad situation.

“We were really getting our butts kicked for a minute (and) we were able to get a lot of support,” Warner said. “Maybe that’s the best part of firefighting is to help the community, but it also builds a sense of community for us as a service but also for the community members.”

Warner added there’s more to learn with different tactics or new equipment, and he wants to continue with the department “Until either my body or the Lord decides I’m done.”

“The good thing about this community is our commissioners and our taxpayers have allowed us to have really good equipment,” Warner added. “We have some of the better equipment in the area and we’re very thankful for that, so it’s nice to know taxpayers and the commissioners will support the fire department in that aspect.”

He said the department works alongside law enforcement and EMS, as well as neighboring communities.

“If we need help we can call any of the neighboring fire departments and they’ll come help, and vice-versa they’ll call us,” Warner said.

He said his family has been supportive even though it could be difficult, especially when his daughters were growing up.

When the call would come in to go fight a fire, “I said, ‘these people need me more than you do right now,’ and they understood that” Warner said. “But that’s hard to leave birthday parties or family dinners or something when the tones drop, that’s a hard thing to do.

“But somebody’s got to be there.”