Meet A City of Dalton Employee: Zach Carlson, Dalton Firefighter
October 12th, 2022
The City of Dalton is special because of the people who work hard every day to make it the best place to live, work, and play in Georgia. The City is proud of the men and women working to serve our residents. This article continues a series of profiles we'll be running from time to time to spotlight the special people who are making a difference in our city.
Zach Carlson is one of the newest firefighters at the Dalton Fire Department. He graduated from the DFD's 14-week recruit school in June and has been working on his shift for about four months now. He comes to Dalton from the greater Chicago, Illinois area and joins his brother Andrew who was already serving as a Dalton firefighter.
Here's a Q&A with Zach Carlson about getting started with his firefighting career, adjusting to life in the south, and more:
Zach, you’re still new here with the DFD, but how has the experience of working here been so far?
I love it. Yeah, it’s awesome. The camaraderie with the guys, and then the calls we get to run – unfortunately if we get called, it does mean that somebody is having a bad day. But it’s fun that we get to go out and do our job.
What are some of the calls that stand out that you’ve been able to be a part of so far?
One of the first calls that I ran, I think it was my third shift, we had a medical call to a 22 year old who had overdosed. We performed CPR on her and got her back. And I’ve had two fires since I’ve been on shift, there were two of them within a month and those were exciting calls.
It’s got to be a pretty cool feeling to be on a medical call like that and see the patient survive and know you had a role in that.
Yes, it’s really a phenomenal feeling.
So what’s the best part about working for the Dalton Fire Department?
I’d say all of it. I come from the military, so having the camaraderie here with the guys is very similar to the military. So that’s awesome, the job is fun, all around it’s just an enjoyable experience. So far, I’ve never had the feeling where I’m like, “man, I don’t want to go to work.” It doesn’t even really feel like a job. It’s kinda just, come here and hang out with a bunch of guys who are all like-minded and get paid to go do fun stuff.
What are some of the similarities that you see between your service in the Army and now being a part of the fire service? Obviously, there are a lot of differences, but what are some of the common threads?
Being a new guy in the fire service and the military is kind of the same. They task you with things to get you working on accountability and responsibility. I have store day here where I go and get food for everybody and cook for everybody. I wouldn’t say that they’re hard on the new guys here, but they press you to make sure that you’re learning the things that you need to be learning. That’s the same with the military, too, because discipline and accountability and knowing your job so that you don’t have to be micromanaged is a big deal. When you get off the truck here, they need to know that, “I know he knows what he’s doing. I don’t have to tell him to go grab this or go grab that or do this or do that.” They’re hard on you to make sure that you know your job.
So were you a good cook when you started with the DFD and if not, are you becoming one?
I am not a good cook, and I’m working on it (laughter).
What’s your go-to meal if you have to impress somebody?
Well, I can throw some stuff in the crock pot. That’s about it.
Chief Pangle mentioned that you are a yankee, you’re coming to us from the Chicago area and they’re trying to get you more acclimated and in tune with southern life. What are some of the lessons you’ve had to learn about being a southerner now?
That in a small town, everybody knows everybody. So if you do something, somebody somewhere saw it and it gets back to you. (laughter)
That’s interesting, do you have any examples of that so far that you can talk about?
Well, I asked a girl for her number. It turns out that her dad knows my chief and it went all the way back down to me, so… (laughter)
That sounds like it could be awkward, did she give you her number?
No, she did not (laughter).
Well, let’s move to some of the other aspects of southern life, it’s football season, have you adopted an SEC team or anything like that?
Well, my grandpa played basketball at Auburn so I am kind of just an Auburn fan.
Oh, that’s cool. Sorry about this weekend. (editor’s note: Go Dawgs!)
(laughter) Yeah, that’s alright. But I mean, I don’t really have a favorite team, I just like watching the sport.
Are you still a Bears fan?
I was never a Bears fan. I’m a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Then you’re probably having a much better year that if you were a Bears fan.
Yeah, that is true.
Is there anything you miss about Chicago?
I’d say the Italian food. We have a place called Portillo’s up there and they make some very, very good Italian beefs.
I imagine you aren’t missing the weather up there too much now.
No, not really, but the summers here are a lot hotter than the summers up there. So that’s an adjustment for me, especially being in full gear and stuff now.
Getting back to the job here, you’ve been here a couple months and I imagine you’re working on your taskbooks and all of that, what are some of your goals for your career here at the DFD?
Right now, I just want to learn everything that I can about the job. Pick the guys’ brains who have been here for a while and learn what they know and be able to apply that. And then, eventually… my brother (Andrew) also works here, and he’s a Georgia Smoke Diver. So, eventually I’d like to go to Smoke Diver school and try out for that, that would be fun.
