Greg Brewer, 31, takes great pride in his job at the Auburn Fire Department. While Brewer is busy doing everything he can to better serve his hometown, his journey to becoming a career team leader is not as simple as it may seem.
After several years serving the fire department, the Auburn native decided he wanted to move into the forestry industry. Two years later, Brewer realized he made a big mistake leaving the career his heart never left.
"When I was a senior (in high school), I had really no direction to go," Brewer said. "I walked into my house one day and my mom said, 'Greg, you should be a fireman.'"
At the time, Brewer thought it was nothing more than a random comment. He looked into the idea and talked to a family friend who was the fire chief.
Brewer decided to participate in the Student Firefighter Program at Auburn University. The program is for college students who want to work for the fire department.
Once an application period is over, the department has interviews and takes about 10 to 15 applicants a session, according to Auburn Fire Chief Lee Lamar.
If an applicant is accepted, training begins in June and goes through early November. After training is completed, the applicant becomes a licensed firefighter.
"It was one of the worst summers in certain ways," Brewer said. "It worked me to the bone."
A huge benefit from the program is the AFD reimburses in-state tuition to students that maintain a 2.5 GPA, while at the same time, the students gain experience working for the department.
"It paid for my school," Brewer said. "There's no other way I could have gotten my school paid for. It gave me a full-time job, and it gives me something to be proud of while I go to college."
Brewer started his secondary education at Southern Union, receiving a degree in two years in industrial electronics. He quickly realized he didn't want to work in an industry. That decision brought Brewer to Auburn University where he pursued a degree in forestry.
"I love being outside," Brewer said. "There was also a guy I grew up with that said, 'Hey, I think you need to go into forestry.'"
While continuing to excel in the classroom, Brewer said he was getting extremely interested in things he was doing with the fire department.
However, there were some scenes that emotionally shook Brewer and made him question if he wanted to continue working with the fire department.
"There were several calls that I went to toward the end of my student career that really bothered me," Brewer said. "I had a hard time getting over it. I really got down on the fire service."
In the spring of 2004, as Brewer approached graduation, he said he decided to leave the fire department.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in forestry and an associate's degree in applied science in business, Brewer got married and got a job in his field.
Brewer's new employer was Baseline Forest Services in Wetumpka, which is partially owned by his father-in-law.
Brewer was the company's procurement forester.
This job includes surveying land for possible trees, buying the trees, getting someone to cut them down and selling them to a lumber company.
Brewer also worked at a saw mill and ran a wood yard in West Point, Ga. However, Brewer said he wasn't happy with his new profession.
He began speaking with Lamar about coming back to the fire department, but there were several complications.
No one had ever left AFD and returned. Brewer had been in forestry for two years. With that said, Lamar didn't know if Brewer's certifications were good.
After looking into the situation, Lamar discovered all Brewer had to do was pass a challenge test to be recertified.
When Brewer quit his jobs in the forestry industry, he began working at the Co-op in Notasulga.
If things weren't already stressful enough trying to get back with AFD, on the last day at Baseline, Brewer's wife informed him she was pregnant.
With a lot weighing on Brewer's interview with the department, it was a happy moment in the Brewer household on Jan. 8, 2007, when he was officially back on the team.
"Even in those two years, the fire department changed a lot," Brewer said.
One major change was the fire department started taking calls of every kind. Prior to Brewer's departure, they only went to fires and bad car wrecks.
Now, they respond to any call that comes in, including fires, call wrecks and medical issues.
Brewer had no experience with medical calls, so he decided to train to become an EMT basic and paramedic.
It took about two years to complete both programs, but he was reimbursed for tuition despite having to take leave to go to class. Brewer has also taken every class offered by the department to further his skills.
Last year, Brewer's accomplishments earned him a spot on the Urban Search and Rescue team out of Columbus, Ga., along with five others at AFD.
Members of the USAR put 400 hours of training in for any situation in which rescue would be needed, other than in water.
Anytime there is a natural disaster and people are missing, the USAR is called to help find victims. Auburn is trying to get USAR station, Brewer said.
"I want to be the best that I can be for me, those guys and the citizens of Auburn," Brewer said.
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