Nov. 27--Andrew Wilson is the newest hire on the Daviess County Fire Department, but he isn't new to the life of a firefighter.
He has sat in the back of the family truck while his dad was on runs, heard family stories of wrecks or structure fires, and has seen the effects of long swing shifts.
Andrew Wilson is a third generation firefighter from a family of which the majority has served with at least one station in Daviess County, but he said it wasn't always a given he would follow in the family business.
"It's always been in the back of my head since my whole family has been a part of it," Wilson said. "Senior year of high school is when I really figured it out."
Andrew Wilson is currently finishing his associate's degree in fire science at Owensboro Community & Technical College while working with the fire department.
His dad, Billy Wilson -- a firefighter with the Owensboro Fire Department -- said he was "tickled" Andrew has chosen his path, but didn't assume his son would follow the work in which his dad, mom, grandpa, aunt and uncle have all been involved.
The week of Thanksgiving was his first week of full duty at the Daviess County Airport Fire Station. There wasn't anything too exciting, just a dryer fire and a burning farm truck; nothing he hasn't seen with the Utica Volunteer Fire Department.
Despite his experience, his dad has been sharing some wisdom learned through his 29-year career.
"I told him to always be the first one to wash the dishes and always stay busy on a fire; don't work yourself to death the first 10 minutes and quit," Billy Wilson said. "I also told him to sleep whenever he can. The older you are, the harder it gets."
Luckily, Andrew Wilson and Billy Wilson are on the relatively same schedule so they've been able to talk, but his dad isn't the only one able to pass on some sage advice.
Norbert Smith is a retired chief of the Utica Volunteer Fire Department with 37 years of experience and is Andrew Wilson's grandpa. He was one of the first waves of volunteers to join Utica when Pat Tanner -- Daviess County judge-executive at the time -- expanded the county's fire departments from three to nine.
"They were saying they needed a lot of help, so I went to see what I could do," Norbert Smith said. "I had been self-taught in a way from my time at W.R. Grace (Chemical Plant)."
Before long, Norbert Smith was joined at the Utica Station by his daughters.
Sara Wilson, Andrew Wilson's mother, was one of the first three women to join a county fire department. Her sister, Diana Selby, joined later where she met her husband, Kerry Selby, before they both joined the Masonville Volunteer Fire Department.
Helen Rose Smith, the matriarch of the family, said it wasn't always easy having her husband and children called at a moment's notice.
"I prayed a lot," Helen Rose Smith said. "There were a lot of times when plates were left full at the table."
While his sons went to college, Norbert Smith and his daughters bonded over their work with the department with some typical family spats mixed in.
"We needed help at the time so I put up with them," Norbert Smith joked.
"You should have seen the three of us at times, though," Sara Wilson said.
Despite the occasional father-daughter arguments, Norbert Smith said he was glad to have his daughters beside him when things got serious.
"There was a time that each of them individually were on a hose line with me," Norbert Smith said. "There was no one else I trusted more."
It was at the Utica Volunteer Fire Department that Sara Wilson met her husband and Andrew Wilson's dad. They were married in 1991 and continued the tradition of a firefighting family.
Billy Wilson said the life of a firefighter and raising a family sometimes conflict -- like when he had to have a stranger watch his son while he worked a wreck -- but everything seemed to have worked out fine.
"He didn't have anywhere to go anyway with the road blocked," Billy Wilson said, laughing. "It did get kind of hard when you have barely had any sleep and you get short-tempered."
Andrew Wilson said he wouldn't have had it any other way, and starting his career as a firefighter has finally been a payoff for all his hard work.
"It means the world to me, following in my dad's footsteps," Andrew Wilson said. "My family has taught me all about life and everything I know is through them. It felt right to continue the tradition."
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