ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The City of Rockford Fire Departments spent another day at the office this Thanksgiving.
While not a hectic day at work, firefighters did spend it away from family and friends with a regular 24-hour shift just like any other day. However, the firefighters do what they can, to make it a little bit different than any other day as they celebrated Thanksgiving.
“Since it is Thanksgiving and we’re not here with the family, we kind of planned a little early right,” said Ryan Wilcox a firefighter for The City of Rockford. “So that we ordered some food. Some people brought in food. You know turkey, pies, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes. All those things that would kind of give you a Thanksgiving meal.”
On a regular day one person would cook for the station, but for Thanksgiving it was all hands on deck.
“We try to do things as normal as possible. We made kind of your traditional thanksgiving meal turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes,” said Natalie Adasiewicz a firefighter for The City of Rockford.
While Thanksgiving isn’t known as a busy day for first responders, work still needed to be done.
“Its usually a regular day cause the holidays more people get together right, but it doesn’t always cause more excitement. So kind of just depends on the day and today day hasn’t been so bad so far,” Wilcox said.
Being away from home on the holidays is always hard, however it was a little easier for the fire department spending it with people they still call family.
“So that gives us an opportunity to be a family here. We eat here, we work here, we sleep here. So it really does kind of bring everyone here with our schedule. And sometimes it lands on a holiday,” Wilcox said.
“Kind of become a family in a sense, a second family. So its kind of easy to be easier to here on holidays to celebrate together,” Adasiewicz said.
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