How I Ended Up Here

From The Kitchen To The Firehouse

This photo was taken shortly after I graduated from The Georgia Smoke Diver Program. Left to Right: Me, Shay West, & My Fire Capt. Steve London. This was the first time in our fire dept’s history that we had an all GA Smoke Diver engine company on duty for a shift.

My high school years were A LOT more playing drums in punk rock bands, riding dirt bikes, skateboarding and the absolute bare minimum of academic work. My wife and I joke that if I met her in high school, we never would have even spoken(she was her class’s Valedictorian and would go on to become a PhD in Marine Microbiology).

Culinary School

I didn’t have much direction, but stumbled into vocational training that would allow me to leave high school for most of the day to go learn the skill of cooking. My guidance counselor suggested this to me in the way that said, you really should consider this(reading between the lines: you don’t have anything else going for you). Getting out of my high school classes for half the day, I was in!

My high school years were coming to a close and I needed to start making moves. So, I applied to Culinary Arts school(I had no other prospects). Two years later I came away with a degree and next to no practical experience working on a line in a commercial kitchen. I was lucky enough to grab a job right after school in the mountains of Western, NC. Little did I know it, I was about to met my first boss in the food and beverage industry, a Frenchman who would become not only my long-term mentor, but a dear friend to this day.

Fresh Culinary School Grad With Mentor Chef Patrick. This guy changed my life in the most insane ways, I attribute a lot of who I am today to this man.

He put my feet to the fire early on and pushed me into discomfort – all with the goal of making me stronger and more resilient. It worked, but I still had a lot to learn about leadership. At the time I was young and angry, full of piss and vinegar and hopped up on a steady diet of caffeine, nicotine, Marco Pierre White influence and heavy metal. Honestly, I’ve gone back and apologized to those who worked under my command at that time, I was a dick.

I took the lessons learned and would go on to cook everywhere from James Beard award winning restaurants, to working as an apprentice in Michelin-Star kitchens in the UK.

Enter: The Fire Service

Ultimately I worked myself into a state of burnout. I started to ponder my next chapter looked like. First I reached out to military recruiters, apparently having tattoos on your neck, head, and hands is a hard sell for the military. Next I started to apply to various Fire Departments in the Charleston, SC area. I was passed over multiple times before being given my first opportunity to become a career firefighter. It’s been 8 years since I started in the Fire Service and I have been loving it ever since.

This photo was taken the last week before graduating Fire Academy and just before hitting the streets as a rookie Firefighter. I had the honor of having my badge pinned by my Uncle Scott(he is a recently retired Deputy Fire Chief).

For those of you who work in the fire service, you know what it’s like to sit around the firehouse kitchen table. There’s a lot of laughing, ball busting, coffee drinking, complaining, idea sharing and of course a ton of great food.

The firehouse is where I was able to start to re-learn how to enjoy cooking again. After those 10 years in the food service industry, I was over it. But little by little I gained back my passion for cooking – through preparing meals at the fire house with the crews I was part of.

At my current department it’s tradition to share at least two meals per shift together as a family. On special occasions/holidays we will get our entire shift together at one station to have a feast and of course enjoy some more ball busting.

Have A Seat At My Table

I know how important it is to fuel yourself not only to perform your best on duty, but to fuel yourself for life at home. That’s what this blog is about, it’s the virtual firehouse kitchen table where ideas will be shared, balls will be busted, laughs will be had and too much coffee will be consumed. So if you are into any of these things – then I welcome you to my table!

Best,
Justin Burch – Fire Bites