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Community Members Strut Their Career Knowledge

At Schools Across Hillsborough County

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 19, 2008

LUTZ Schwarzkopf Elementary kindergartners were impressed when firefighter Gary Guy donned his full uniform and helmet, but the ladders on the 1973 fire truck he brought with him drew the most "wows."

Guy explained how one extended for high places and one hooked onto roofs. The children gazed up in awe and lined up for a chance to sit in the retired truck's cab.

Guy, a Hillsborough County firefighter for eight years, started the Old Cracker Fire Company in February to teach fire safety throughout the community. This morning he took his gear to his children's school to participate in the annual Great American Teach-In.

The Teach-In brings parents and community members into Hillsborough County schools to talk to students about their jobs and hobbies. Veterans, paramedics, police officers, musicians and even the Florida Strawberry Festival Queen appeared at schools.

At Schwarzkopf, Guy talked with classes about firefighting as a career and showed children what he would wear if he had to enter a burning building.

The students wanted to know exactly what firefighters did, if they needed cars and if they would save pets. Guy said he had rescued two cats.

Some of the 5- and 6-year-olds looked startled when he put on his oxygen mask, which hissed as he breathed. Guy reassured them that he might look scary but they had nothing to be afraid of and should feel comfortable going with a firefighter if their house caught on fire.

"I'm a daddy," said Guy, whose son and daughter attend Schwarzkopf, in Lutz. "Even though I have all this stuff on, I'm still a daddy underneath."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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