“This is the best job in the world. Treat it as such.”

Lt. Dylan Briggs, Morrisville Fire Department

Why did you originally become a firefighter?

Lieutenant Dylan Briggs is a first-generation firefighter who initially wanted to go into law enforcement after finishing school. While studying criminal justice in college, he volunteered at his local fire department to gain public safety experience. He quickly fell in love with the fire service and his career aspirations changed after just a couple of semesters in college.

Today, Lieutenant Briggs is assigned to the heavy rescue at Morrisville Fire Rescue where he has served for the past 10 years. He is also a lieutenant for his local volunteer department in Northwest Harnett County, NC. Lieutenant Briggs has been a member of the North Carolina Peer Support Team since 2018 and he currently serves as an instructor and the central regional coordinator for the team.

In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Carla and their 16-month-old daughter, Kensley. When he’s not with his family, he’s probably long distance running, bass fishing, or attending fire training/conferences.

What advice do you have for other firefighters?

Lieutenant Briggs encourages other firefighters to never stop learning and to leave it better for the next generation. “It’s okay to love the job. It’s okay to be into the job,” Briggs stated. “This is the best job in the world. Treat it as such.”

What changes do you foresee in the fire service?

The increased sharing and access of information across the fire service via technology is the biggest change that Lt. Briggs sees coming.

“I love the tradition of the fire service, but I absolutely hate the phrase ‘because that’s the way we’ve always done it.’”

For decades, firefighters and fire departments never looked outside of their own organization for different ways to operate, improve their skills, or learn new tactics. Today, with social media, online fire webinars, online firefighter groups, and podcasts, the information is vast and easily accessible.

“The only thing that we have to be careful about,” Lt. Briggs pointed out, “is the credibility of the information we find and the unique application of that information for each district.” Overall, Lt. Briggs believes that this is a huge positive swing in the fire service that will continue to grow.

To cap off this article, Lt. Briggs chose to share a story of brotherhood created through fire. He will take it from here…

Almost all of my best friendships in life have started in a firehouse or on the fire ground. Among the friendship origin stories I have, one particular story sticks out.

In 2015 I was working a trade time shift on a crew with some guys that I was friends with but not necessarily close friends. We happened to catch a house fire that evening. Another member and I ended up on a hose line performing fire attack on the second floor.

Everyone now refers to this other firefighter as my “brother from another mother.”

During fire attack, he had the nozzle, and I was pulling ceiling with a NY hook. I suddenly felt a downward tug on my left arm. When I looked to my left I saw that the nozzle man had fallen halfway through the floor and was only being supported by his elbows.

But he was still fighting fire, nozzle bale open!

As I assisted him out of the hole, he continued to fight fire like nothing happened and we were able to quickly extinguish the fire. In this moment, I thought to myself, “He’s crazy — just like me.” Right then and there, we discovered that we share the same type of passion for the job.

We have been “brothers” ever since. He was a groomsman at my wedding, and is an Uncle to my daughter.