Firefighter's Simple Need for Job Turns Into Highly Rewarding Career

Firefighter Keith Mennie is still in his first year of service at Station 20 in New Tampa. He came from Station 7 in Seminole Heights and has been a Hillsborough County firefighter since 2004.

Mennie is a New York City native who graduated from the University of South Florida, studying fine arts and Italian. He had friends who were firefighters, yet it was more an issue of simply needing a job that brought Mennie into the world of firefighting.

Patch: Describe your most harrowing experience on the job.

Mennie: We answered this call about a guy who had been abandoned in his home. He was locked inside, so we had to break in. The second we got the door open, you could smell rotting flesh — I knew the guy was gonna be dead. When we saw him, he looked dead. We grabbed him to try to move him and he grabbed back. We tried to remove him from the couch but his flesh had grown into the couch. We had to get the Hazmat suits to finally cut him loose from the couch. We needed the masks because we couldn't breathe because the smell was so bad.

Patch: What was your most rewarding experience on the job?

Mennie: We got a call that this couple was on their way to the hospital, when the baby started crowning. They had pulled over into the Starbucks near Hillsborough and Central (avenues). I expected to see someone just in labor pains, but that baby was coming out. She pushed; I caught and cut the cord. We delivered that baby right there in the parking lot and took them to St. Joseph's (Hospital).

(Editor's note: Check this YouTube video of Mennie battling a house fire in Tampa.)

Patch: What do you do to decompress after a long shift?

Mennie: Spend time with my kids, sleep. If a shift is really rough, I just want to get some sleep.

Patch: What do you enjoy about working in New Tampa?

Mennie: The crew that I'm with.

Patch: If you weren't working as a firefighter, what do you think you would be doing?

Mennie: I'm not sure, maybe cooking somewhere.