04.12.18

When they’re not fighting fires, they’re cooking food

Georgia Davis / Culture Editor

Paul Schulz, Brian Mace and Dan Riley hovered over a Rival Crock-Pot full of pulled pork on the first floor of Athens Fire Department Station 1 on Columbus Road.

“It will be more like pork brisket sandwiches if we don’t get more heat in there,” Schulz said.

Steam floated out of the Crock-Pot, along with the first whiffs of dinner. A bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce sat next to it. Bowls of homemade coleslaw and a tossed salad sat on the almost 30-year-old table. Schulz chopped up the ingredients for the salad himself.

In Schulz’s 28 years with AFD, he can’t remember a time they have not cooked for each other on their shift. Sometimes, their families will join them, and the people from the fire department on Richland Avenue will make the journey across town. Schulz, Mace and Riley’s shift cooks more often and does the most of the experimental cooking.

Baxter Turain | FOR THE POST

Paul Schulz waits for his coworkers to arrive from Athens Fire Station 2. He prepared dinner for all of the firefighters from stations 1 and 2 on April 10, 2018.

The first shift has a lot of hunters in the group, and one of the firefighters owns pigs and butchers and cures his own meat. The men will bring in whatever they have and throw together some interesting meals.

One of the most popular dishes is deer enchiladas. The men have eaten everything from elk to wild turkey to antelope. Riley likes the meatloaf, especially when one of the other firefighters uses his art degree to draw band logos with ketchup on top of the meal.

The men will take all the food in the refrigerators and determine what they will make from the ingredients they have.

“We’ll put it all together,” Schulz said. “This shift is the one that will cook a lot. That’s kind of the name of the game, ‘What can we do with what we have?’ "

Riley doesn’t usually cook. He will find other ways to contribute to the meal through monetary or food donations.

“Everyone needs to be good at something,” Riley, who has worked at AFD for 21 years, said. “I’m good at eating the foods they make.”

On their days away from the nine-truck station, the firemen will occasionally butcher the meat they want. With the hands-on approach, they are able to cut the meat the way they prefer it. When they cure bacon, Mace said they use about half the amount of salt because it tastes better that way.

“It tastes more like meat than salt,” Mace, who has been working at AFD for five years, said.

When the station needs food, they will drive the big red truck to the Kroger on East State Street and grab some ingredients. The workers are so familiar with the firefighters that if they are dispatched for a run, the employees will save their food in the Kroger coolers.

Making grocery runs helps them log hours for training. Each firefighter has to log about 150 hours of training, and a certain number of hours have to be logged behind the wheel of the vehicle.

The station uses a lot of locally sourced foods.

“Paul is the farmers market guru,” Mace said.

Schulz likes to buy mushrooms, lettuce, raspberry chipotle salsa and bread from Avalanche Pizza from the Athens Farmers Market. He said it’s not uncommon to see a couple buckets of tomatoes sitting in the fire station.

Schulz makes his own bread and is kind enough to share it with his co-workers. Schulz keeps bees, so he’ll even bring in honey to pair with the bread.

They also like garlic.

“Vampires will never get in here,” Mace said laughing.

They used to make dinner closer to 7 p.m., but they kept getting called out on runs during that time so they moved it to 5 p.m.

“Now, some of the young guys would say it’s because we’re getting old,” Schulz said.

“It’s nicer than going to a restaurant. Here we can sit around and have a few minutes.”Paul Schulz, Athens firefighter

The station, which went on about 1,200 runs last year, had to ask the Athens Police Department to check on the stove a few times to make sure they turned it off before they left, Schulz said. Other than that, AFD hasn’t had any mishaps in the department when it comes to making the food.

When it’s finally time to eat the meal, the men keep up the friendly banter. They like to pick on each other, which is another trademark of the shift. The banter is one of the best parts about eating a meal together, Mace said.

Before the meal, Riley made sure to get Mace’s special plate out of the cupboard: a Disney’s Hercules plate featuring the title character’s love interest, Meg.

“You get to sit and make fun of each other,” Mace said.

For the others, it is a time for them to sit and relax.

“It’s nicer than going to a restaurant,” Schulz said. “Here we can sit around and have a few minutes.”

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