Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Prigmore.
Michael, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started off as a coach and teacher in a small town Anderson, near my hometown of Navasota. The September 11th attacks happened the year before when I was doing my Student Teaching at SHSU, I finished with a History Minor and a Kinesiology Major.
I remember being crazy inspired by the brave heroes the Firefighters, Police, and Paramedics who responded towards the burning buildings, chaos, and trapped victims as everyone else was running away for safety. I finished that year teaching, especially since I’d accumulated the loans, so I had to at least see what the job I’d set out to do would be like. Teaching is a good occupation, it’s a job in serving. I wanted to serve in a different way after that year. I started the Houston Fire Department’s Famous Val Jahnke Training Academy that next March 2004 and completed all the training – Fire academy, EMT, and Paramedic courses. I promoted to Engineer Operator Paramedic in early 2012 and I’m still at that rank, which is one of the most versatile jobs HFD has to offer, I can drive any of the apparatus’ or ride up in a higher classification position such as Captain or a Captain EMS Supervisor’s position, so I keep my skills and training as sharp as I can because that versatility is valuable to me.
I manage to teach on my days off from HFD at Lone Star College as an EMT/Fire/Paramedic Skills instructor. I also utilized my Kinesiology degree in my daily training regimen. Fitness is important and makes responding to physically demanding calls that much easier, I don’t know how you could do this job and not maintain your fitness. I have been featured in a few Firefighter Calendars for various entities benefiting everything from Burned Children to Rescue Animals to Autism Research over these last four years. I even met my lovely wife while trying out for my first one back in 2016. 15 years of service so far, it feels as if I started yesterday, this journey that chose me just as much as I chose this journey.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The journey that chose me has been anything but smooth. I’ve learned to appreciate both the light as well as the dark along the way as we can live in both lightness and darkness. I had to take the same Promotional Exam 3 times and I took a Captain’s test that I won’t get promoted on. Stressful times putting in so much work and effort for a goal you didn’t attain. Both of my Children were born during my time with HFD, my son is 12 and my daughter is 9. A Positive is that I get to see my children a lot with my schedule. The political atmosphere in the HFD hasn’t been very positive for many years now, HFD hasn’t had a contract or a pay increase for 7 or 8 years now.
We’re not even the highest paid in our own area, not in the Top 50 in our own state, yet as an organization we are the 3rd largest and busiest Fire Department. I’ve been injured a few times, six surgeries in all, the last of which was job-related. I nearly lost my right leg at a fire, thankfully, Memorial Hermann and UT Physicians put a team together that took care of my injury. I was off for 11 months for that one. So, no I’ve come to believe that anything worth having won’t come easily, but you learn to appreciate what you’ve been through to make the positive good times that much more enjoyable.
Please tell us more about being a firefighter.
Working as a Firefighter Paramedic for the Houston Fire Department is unique in that you are trained to handle and mitigate almost every type of Emergency. Anyone of us can be comfortable in some very uncomfortable situations. In this business, I pride myself on being a “Jack of all Trades” because I value the versatility of my rank as much if not more than anyone else of equal rank and experience. I call it the Jack of all, Master of none, to be funny. I think my reputation at this point is highly respected and that when you have a serious call I’m the one you want when it all goes down. I’d consider myself a Paramedic Specialist because of the high amount of assessments I’ve been able to see over the years. At this point if I run across something I haven’t seen yet, I’d probably put a dollar on it. I think my work ethic, motivation, and sense of humor sets me apart from most on a personal level. I’ve taken a part of every single Firefighter that I’ve learned from and added as much to my personal toolbox as a rule would also be another aspect of what makes me unique. We can be in one of the most serious of situations, and still be able to crack a joke at one of the responders or a good natured jab at the Rookie, who’ll one day jab at another rookie the same.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over I’d do everything the exact same and taken more pictures along the way. I’d relish in the successes and took more time to smell the roses. I’d added more sugar and less salt and vinegar. I’d learned to forgive myself a lot sooner, but the lessons of the young man aren’t always learned from reading about them or from other mistakes, it’s uniquely your own. I’d not have been so success thirsting, listen to people more and try not to put out emotional fires with my blowtorch.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mprigmore77
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