Firefighter Lt. Shannon Turner: Can’t imagine doing any other job

Editor’s note: The Smyrna Public Safety Foundation has two big events on the horizon beginning with the on Saturday, Aug. 13. A total of just 1,500 raffle tickets are being sold at $20 each with the grand prize a 2012 Street Glide from Earl Small’s Harley Davidson. Other prizes consist of a Glock pistol, a Panama City, Fla., vacation and a Luminox Blackout watch. Tickets may be purchased online here or at Adventure Outdoors, Kenny's Great Pie's, C-Comm 911, and Smyrna Fire Station No.1 on Atlanta Road.

And of course, the SPSF’s Auction for Heroes Gala is approaching in just a little more than a month. This event at Brawner Hall promises to be a night of food and fun with live music from Wesley Cook and Kingsized. For more information on these events see here.

City of Smyrna Firefighter/Paramedic Lt. Shannon Turner is honored here as the “Hero of the Week” by the “Smyrna Auction for Heroes Gala” Committee.

“I will always be a fireman!” said Turner, a Smyrna native. His first love, however, was in the medical field, and he became an EMT in 1993. Working on the ambulance at Smyrna 911, though, led him to want to add to his capabilities by becoming a firefighter. Subsequently, he underwent extensive training and education, earning certification as a Paramedic, Hazmat Technician, Fire Officer, and Fire Instructor, among others, and is also a licensed RN with degrees in Fire Science and Fire Management. Turner is now an 18-year veteran, a dozen of those in Smyrna.

“We all train to help others,” Turner said of the firehouse crew, “but being able to follow through is where it all pays off.”

The “follow-through” Turner values is his crew’s ability to work together swiftly and appropriately in rescue situations to achieve the best possible outcomes. Every time they face tense, life-threatening events, the Fire Rescue Crew depends on their extensive training to respond in minutes.

It’s not unusual for the crew to receive “thank you” calls and visits from the citizens they rescued following their release from the hospital. When he receives such calls, Turner says he’ll often invite the person to “a meal at the fire station to meet the rest of the crew” that participated in their rescue on that day. A job well done, a life saved, and a grateful citizen—all in a day’s work for Turner and his crew.

Beyond years of training and a joy in helping others, Turner says his faith sustains him and is an integral part of his personality.

“To give back to the community and to help others without reward or expecting something in return is one aspect of being a Christian,” he said.

That attitude is apparent in his involvement with the Smyrna Public Safety Foundation’s “Shop with a Hero” program, in which Smyrna firefighters and police officers take area children holiday shopping each year to purchase things their families could otherwise not afford. 

“To see their faces and smiles and to really get to know them makes my December one to remember,” Turner said. “Everyone should have the opportunity to give back.”