Smyrna Firefighter Jay Ratliff keeps it light

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 Jay Ratliff is honored here as the “Hero of the Week” by the “Smyrna Auction for Heroes Gala” Committee. When asked about how he came to have his current job, Ratliff looks back.

“Like most kids I was influenced by television,” he explained.

In particular, shows such as “S.W.A.T.” and “Emergency!” really sparked his interest in the career he’s now had for 17 years, two of them in Smyrna. But it wasn’t until his brother-in-law became an EMT while Ratliff was still in high school that he began training for his dream job.

In addition to training as a paramedic, which he completed in 1999, Ratliff is a Hazardous Materials Technician.

Although the deals with many tense situations, day-to-day events occasionally take a humorous turn. One that still makes Ratliff laugh concerns the time he misunderstood his lieutenant, thinking he was asking for water. Ratliff inadvertently “wet him down” before realizing his mistake. Later that same day while preparing an IV, Ratliff squirted water on the lieutenant’s shirt (also, he said, “completely by accident”).

“It made for a funny day," Ratliff recalls. “For everyone but the lieutenant.”

Ratliff, like so many firefighters and police officers, is involved in the Smyrna Public Safety Foundation’sprogram for local children – many of whom, he said, have been especially hurt by the current economic climate.

“Most of these underprivileged children are some of the nicest children I’ve seen,” he said. “They are usually concerned about getting presents for other people that are important to them and not just themselves.” Beyond making sure kids have holiday gifts, the program is significant, Ratliff said, because it provides clothes and other necessary items that otherwise the children would have to do without.