Sean Shoemaker. Father of two, and lover of dogs, is a retired firefighter and current assistant chief and fire marshal in the town of Colchester. He has worked in the fire service for over 40 years and throughout that time he served at 9/11, the Worcester Warehouse fire, and helped at the 1996 Olympic games.
“I always wanted to be a firefighter…it was always something that was part of me,” Mr. Shoemaker said.
As soon as he was 18 he began volunteering as a firefighter in Westport. He then joined the Navy, and during his eight years that he served, he was stationed in Italy where he became a certified EMT.
When he got back, he was stationed at the naval submarine base in Groton, where he continued volunteering at the local fire department. While he was volunteering he began taking tests all over the state in hopes to get a position as a career firefighter.
“Absolutely there was [fear] going into it…but fear is what keeps you alive,” Mr. Shoemaker said, but he still loved the job due to being able to help people all the time.
In 2001, Shoemaker was the first federal search team manager at the World Trade Center. Many years before the disaster, he had done search and rescue training with one of his dogs and had gotten a call one day from the man that he did the training with. He asked Mr. Shoemaker if he wanted to be a search manager on a Urban Search and Rescue (USR) task force in Massachusetts, and he said yes.
“[On September 11th] I was home sitting on the floor watching cartoons with Jason [his son] on my lap and the phone rang and my coworker said ‘are you watching this…well turn on the news, make sure your bags are packed,’” Mr. Shoemaker said. He turned on the news, and his wife asked if he was going, the question was answered within five minutes when he was called again and told that he was going.
He began working the day shift, which was a 12 hour shift, as Search Manager for the first task force on the scene. It was a very overwhelming experience for the first few days while other search and rescue task forces were still arriving because it was a huge area to cover, and it was hard to find where to start.
“It just became a job, it wasn’t particularly emotional for me…I kind of compartmentalized it,” Mr. Shoemaker said, referring to his work at the World Trade Center.
Another difficult job was the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse fire, where six firefighters got trapped in the building and died. Mr. Shoemaker was the night manager there for nine days with two canines, where they searched for the firefighters who had lost their lives.
A more fun job that he was able to do was working at the 1996 Olympics in Georgia, where FEMA pre-positioned two USR task forces in case there was something to happen at the Olympics.
His most memorable rescue though was pulling a man from the second floor of a burning house in West Hartford. Mr. Shoemaker and the rest of the crew arrived at the house fire and they started doing ventilation (breaking windows from the outside). The mother, who had gotten out of the house, said that her son (an adult) was still inside. The crew made the decision to go inside the building for a search. Mr. Shoemaker entered the house and went to the second floor with another firefighter, they then entered the burning room. He began a right hand search pattern and halfway around the room he found the son. He then dragged him outside and got him in an ambulance. Unfortunately the individual died in the hospital.
“You can’t save everyone… You’re never going to save everyone,” Mr. Shoemaker said.
Today, as the assistant chief, Mr. Shoemaker’s job is to supervise the career staff, and as fire marshal he is responsible for fire-prevention activities which involves inspections, public education, and he is in charge of all fire and explosion investigations in the town of Colchester.
