Most mornings, a fire truck can be spotted outside the Steve Clark YMCA on Wichita State’s campus. The reason for the firefighters’ visit? The seemingly obvious — they’re working out.
The firefighter crew from the nearby station often haul their crew, gear and truck over to the YMCA to get the day’s workout in.
“We’re pretty limited on what we have at the station,” said Gerald Johnson, captain of Fire Station 10. “We’ve got some treadmills and ellipticals that our firemen’s association has provided, but most other stuff is just weights and equipment that guys have brought from home or whatever.”
While at the YMCA, the crew splits up to begin various workouts. Some, like Johnson and firefighter Chris Wilhite, start the day by climbing stairs, mostly in silence.
Others will hop around areas of the Y, stretching and lifting, while also taking the time to tease each other.
The crew used to do their typical morning — and occasional afternoon — workouts at WSU’s Heskett Center. After the YMCA opened in 2020, the firefighters approached staff about doing their workouts in the new facility.
“And they had no problem; they’ve been super accommodating for us since day one,” Johnson said.
And, as Lieutaunt John Hattrup noted, getting out of Heskett, located in the middle of campus, for an active call can prove difficult.
“It’s a lot easier to get out of this one than the old Heskett Center,” Hattrup said. “That was a dead sprint … when we used to get the alarm.”
Station 10’s crew is made up of a little under 10 men, most of whom were raised in Wichita. While most firefighters cited their love of the job, most didn’t begin their working lives there.
Hattrup started as a construction worker but made the switch after wanting something “more exciting and a little bit unpredictable.”
Firefighter Isaiah Hittle studied at WSU before becoming a firefighter. He worked briefly at The Sunflower as a photographer. One of his various assignments was capturing firefighter training at the Fairmount Towers, dorms that were subsequently demolished in 2019.
Several years ago, Hittle made the switch and began firefighting, something he credits to his father, a Wichita firefighter, and Johnson, Hittle’s uncle.
“I grew up being around it all the time,” Hittle said. “(I) fell in love with it from that.”
Tony Massaglia “always wanted” to be a firefighter, but was pulled by the desire to serve in the Army as well. After finishing his tours, he began fighting fires, initially working as an industrial firefighter at Boeing, a job he considers “not as fun” as his current one.
“We run a lot of calls, so you’re actually doing stuff,” Massaglia said. “Industrial — it’s a lot of preventing.”
Originally from the Hutchinson area, Wilhite worked as a volunteer firefighter for 14 years and “loved every day of it.”
He’s also worked as a diesel mechanic, though he admits he still does it on the side. It’s one of the many part-time jobs crewmembers take on during their time away from the station.
“We’re on for 24 hours, and then we’re off for 48 … but most of the guys have other jobs that they do,” Johnson said.
Through early morning workouts, practical jokes, or just working together for 24 hours straight, the team has grown close throughout their five or so years together.
“There’s something, too, about when you do something hard with a group of people you really like, you can make it fun, you know?” Wilhite said. “Some of the nights will be pretty rough; you go out on just alarm after alarm after alarm.”
Wilhite cited how long hours can lead to more light-hearted moments between the firefighters.
“Like … how goofy you get when you’re sleep deprived, and you’re with your friends, and it’s like, it’s pretty interesting,” Wilhite said. “It would be really, really different if you didn’t like everybody.”
