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Four Decades Of Firefighting Not Enough

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By KYLE MARTIN Hernando Today

Published: December 6, 2007

Updated: 12/05/2007 09:11 pm

BROOKSVILLE - One would think after 36 years of fighting fire, Dennis Hackett would be ready to put down the hose and hang up his helmet.

In part, you would be right.

On Jan. 31, Hackett will say "adios" to his job as district chief for Hernando County Fire Rescue.

But he's still far away from retirement.

His part-time job with a national crisis response team will take up all his time now and continue to send him across the United States.

It's just another chapter in a life of community service that began on the wharfs of New York City. Hackett dates his start in the business to the age of 7 when he tagged along with his father, who was a marine engineer with the Big Apple's fire department.

"I've been doing this my whole life," Hackett said in a recent interview at Fire Station No. 21 on Mondon Hill Road. "It's the unknown that gives you the adrenaline rush."

Assistant Chief Frank DeFrancesco described Hackett as a leader who promoted better education in wild land firefighting.

"He kept up with our goals as a department," DeFrancesco said.

The past 15 years with the county has brought Hackett plenty of work in the form of car crashes, house fires and heart attacks. But a majority of 56-year-old Hackett's career was actually attacking brush fires in Florida's scrub land.

In 1971 Hackett was still a newlywed when he took a job with the Division of Forestry. He lived near a fire tower in a remote tract of woods between Perry and Tallahassee with his wife, Debby. Directions to their home began with, "Turn off the paved road and go about 15 miles ..."

There was no phone, only the radio that was ready to squawk out the coordinates of the latest inferno. The couple enjoyed the natural beauty that surrounded them, but Debby Hackett was soon to learn the requirements of her husband's profession.

"From day one he was on call," she said. "I had to get used to it."

Wildfires are notorious for traveling at a swift pace and catching firefighters off-guard when a high wind suddenly changes its direction. Hackett has escaped his job with only a few "dents and dings", but that isn't to say there haven't been close calls.

He recalls driving a tractor into a "tunnel of fire" with flames on the ground and high in the trees overhead. The fire sucked up all the surrounding oxygen and caused the tractor's engine to conk out. Fortunately, the forward momentum of the tractor carried him out of the hot spot and he was able to start the engine moments later.

Hackett also escaped a fire that melted the taillights of his pickup truck as he fled.

Over time, Hackett moved up the ranks with the Division of Forestry and was soon overseeing the district offices of Hernando and Pasco counties.

He worked closely with area departments, including Brooksville's, coordinating training opportunities and sharing resources. That's how Steve Guckian, a retired fire captain from the city, came to know Hackett.

But it was the work outside Florida that strengthened their bond. There's a national emergency response task force composed of federal, state and local resources, including the U.S. Forest Service, Park Services and the Department of the Interior.

Thousands of people are on call, ready to respond to everything from wildfires devouring huge swaths of forest to natural disasters.

It's hard work, often involving 12- to 16-hour shifts of getting hot and dirty and spending as much as six weeks away from family. Hackett's job as a supervisor is not just to implement a strategy for getting the fire out, but to keep spirits up as well.

"Dennis is a motivator," Guckian said, because there are times when you can't get a phone call to your family or your loved ones are going through a hardship you can't help with. Not everyone realizes how difficult it is, but "Dennis explains that everyone feels the same way."

Troy Floyd has also worked alongside Hackett and he echoes Guckian's observations. Hackett's positive attitude keeps people going, he said.

He also points to Hackett's "calm and collected" demeanor. "He doesn't get excited, which is a good quality for the job," Floyd said.

Asked if he ever had a day he wanted to quit, Hackett laughed and replied, "Plenty of times." It's especially frustrating when someone doesn't follow their training and risks getting hurt, he said.

Firefighters sometimes get to feeling they are indestructible and take safety for granted, he said, but "we're human too."

One call in particular motivates him on those rough days. It was a woman in the grip of a heart attack in Dade City. When firefighters showed up she was dead, but they were able to revive her and get her to the hospital. "Amid all the destruction, those are the days you remember," he said.

The job has taken its toll on Hackett. He's lost some hearing after a lifetime around heavy machinery and sirens. His lung capacity has diminished after years taking short, fast breaths in an oxygen-deprived setting.

Home life is also affected. Every third day of his life has been spent with his "other family" at the fire station. When Hackett took the job with the national task force 10 years ago, there were times when he would drop one duffel bag and pick up another on his way out the door.

But Debby Hackett recognizes that firefighting "is in his blood."

"It is hard," she said. "I don't like to be away from him, but I would never ask him to quit."

Of their two sons, David has taken up a job as an electrician in Tampa and Daniel is a firefighter with the county. Neither those jobs nor her husband's give Debby Hackett any peace of mind.

"I'm kind of a worrier," she admits. "But I'm proud of all of them."

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com

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