Forging truths in the fire

Hollywood through movies and television series has always romanticized the profession of the firefighter for its courage and strength. However, one Ville Platte firefighter, who recently retired from the department, described real life fire fighting to be truer than what is portrayed on the screen.
“It’s not exactly what you see on TV, but there are some truths to some of it,” said Derek Marcantel.
One of the truths about firefighting was featured in the 1991 movie Backdraft starring Kurt Russell. Backdrafts can happen in fires that have little to no ventilation when oxygen is re-introduced into the air causing a combustion.
As Marcantel explained, “We don’t have a whole lot of backdraft around here, but it’s possible. It can happen. We just have to look for the signs before we attack any fires to know.”
He went on to identify some of the warning signs of a backdraft, such as different types of smoke. “You can see how the smoke is reacting,” said Marcantel. “It may be puffing on and off. The color of it might be an indicator of it. There are things you just have to look for when you get there, and you have to be prepared.”
Marcantel retired from the Ville Platte Fire Department earlier this year after a total of 33 years as a firefighter. He was a volunteer since 1985 and has been a paid firefighter for the past 23 years. “My brother, Curtis, was a volunteer, so I would go with him a little bit. Then, I ended up joining,” he said.
He stated that he is not exactly sure why he decided to do it for a living. “I used to work out of town,” Marcantel said. “I would travel a lot, and I kind of decided I wanted to be home more. This came available, so I applied and got it.”
“It’s been good, and it was fun,” he continued as he described his career as a firefighter. “It was nice to be around other firemen. We would have a good time, and we helped each other. We did what we could for the public.”
Over his 33 year career, Marcantel has seen many changes come to the department. “It changed a lot,” he stated. “The rules and laws got stricter. There are a lot of things that we have to go by now that we didn’t have to do back then when I first started. And, the equipment is a lot better now. The trucks are bigger and better and have more equipment and more water on them now.”
Marcantel was also a firefighter for the Evangeline Parish Fire District Two, Ward 1. The biggest change in his career was probably the size of the district. “It’s a pretty good size now,” he expressed. “It covers all of Faubourg, Belaire Cove, and Chataignier. It used to be bigger than that when I first was getting into the fire department.”
“It used to go all the way to Pine Prairie,” he continued. “It shrunk a little bit because Pine Prairie started its own fire department, and it got smaller and smaller as more towns could afford to have a fire department.”
Another big change to the department was the number of firefighters on duty at one time. As Marcantel said, “When I first started here, we were five firemen on duty at a time. Now it’s just four. Back then we always had a man that would stay at the station who was a dispatcher, but now we have a new system where we are going through 911. There’s no more dispatcher here because 911 dispatches for us.”
Marcantel described a day during his thirty-plus year stint as a firefighter as a “basic day at the fire station.” He added, “You do your duties, get your trucks right, check inventory and everything, and wait for that call. But, hopefully, you don’t get it.”
When calls do come in to the fire station, firemen like Marcanel grab their gear, jump on the truck, and head to wherever they are called. Many of the calls are the result of grass fires, alarm activations, and house fires. “When the bad weather is in, we get all kind of calls about power lines on fire and on the ground, and we get a lot of wrecks,” said Marcantel.
He continued, “At certain times of the year, it’s going to be grass fires, and at other times, it just might be alarm activations. Then we get house fires that start. It’s all different at different times of the year. People start cleaning up when we get into the summer time, and then we get a lot of grass fires.”
Grass fires, in Marcantel’s opinion, are the most dangerous type of fire around this area, but he said “it all depends.” He went on to say, “With these grass fires, sometimes we could get ourselves in a bind with the high winds, but, as far as house fires, we don’t know when that roof could cave in on us. They are all dangerous.”
Aside from dealing with the dangerous conditions of fires, Marcantel had to do certain things that he did not like to do during his career. “I had to call a friend of mine one time and tell him that his daughter had just got in a bad wreck, and it didn’t look good. That was kind of tough for me.”
“I had seen a few people who were burnt up in a house and a few bad wrecks where people were killed in,” he continued. “There are some bad things out there which I hope I don’t see anymore of.”
Now that Marcantel is retired as a firefighter, he said that he “still plans on going to work a little bit here and there.” He added, “I’m not really sure right now, and it’s up in the air.”
One thing for sure is that he will continue to serve as a volunteer firefighter for the department so that he can help mentor the new crop of firefighters. His basic advice to them is to always be prepared. “You have to make sure you’re careful with what you do,’ he said. “There is a lot of danger in it. You just have to be prepared for what you’re going to do.”
He concluded, “You have to do your studying on your fire stuff and be aware of your surroundings when you get to a scene. That’s one of the most dangerous things. You have to make sure you see what’s going on before you start anything.”