Today I had the pleasure of photographing Firefighter Ed Shain. When I arrived, I found Ed sitting on the front of a fire truck with a grimace on his face. Ed’s not one to actually enjoy getting his photo taken, nor is he very excited about talking about himself. So it took a little while to get him talking.Ed is nearly 71 years young. He became a volunteer fire fighter in Charlestown, IN, in October of 1968 and he’s still there – that’s over 40 years of dedicated service. He credits his mentors, Bob Brewer and Bill Collins for encouraging him to become a firefighter in the first place.
Ed spent his civilian life as a mechanic working on all types of equipment, big and small. He’s the “go to” guy for anything mechanical. It seems that there isn’t anything that can go wrong with a fire truck that Ed can’t fix.
For the last 15 years he has dedicated countless hours to the Charlestown Volunteer Fire Department’s Cadet Program. He has trained several generations of firefighters in every aspect of fire service – including his own children and grand children. You can’t begin to speak about the history of the Charlestown Volunteer Fire Department without mentioning Ed.
Firefighter, Chris Upton, says that if it were not for Ed, he would not be the person he is today. “Ed is an excellent individual who strives to do everything in his power to make sure every cadet has every question answered and all training needs met to allow the best transition into fire service.”
When asked about memories that stand out for him in his duties as a firefighter, you see a bit of emotion come to the surface as he talks about the people he couldn’t save, usually in car accidents. Those seem to haunt him as he talks about the individuals.
The best memories are about houses that have been saved. Devastation and destruction avoided because of the dedication of an experienced team, many of which owe their knowledge to Ed Shain. Congratulations, Ed! You deserve to be in our calendar!
"This is a smile."
