{"id":122614,"date":"2019-09-14T07:43:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-14T12:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=122614"},"modified":"2019-09-16T07:46:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T12:46:55","slug":"new-van-wert-firefighter-following-in-fathers-footsteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/09\/14\/new-van-wert-firefighter-following-in-fathers-footsteps\/","title":{"rendered":"New firefighter follows in dad’s footsteps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Addison King wanted to be a firefighter. In fact, it would probably have been surprising if he wanted to do anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King, who was sworn in as a full-time Van Wert firefighter on Friday morning, said he grew up watching his father, Middle Point Fire Chief and Van Wert Fire Captain Craig King, and adding that he has wanted to be a firefighter since he was young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
New Van Wert Firefighter Addison King (right) is sworn in by Mayor Jerry Mazur while his wife, Paige, holds the Bible.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom what I can remember, back as a little kid, at five years old I knew,\u201d Addison King said when asked at what age he wanted to be a firefighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King, a 2010 graduate of Lincolnview High School, spent time at fire departments from an early age, according to his father, Craig, who said his son helped wash trucks and do other chores at the Middle Point and Van Wert fire stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe grew up here (at the VWFD); it\u2019s his second home away from home,\u201d Captain Craig King said, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s a great moment\u201d to see his son sworn in as a Van Wert firefighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addison King, who also goes by \u201cAJ\u201d, already has a decade of fire experience under his belt. He noted that he first started as a volunteer in 2009 on the Middle Point Volunteer Fire Department and then became a member of the Delphos Fire Department in 2015. He also spent time as a reserve firefighter at Van Wert a few years ago, Chief Jon Jones recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known AJ since the day he was born; he was on as a reserve for some time and really wanted to be a full-time fireman,\u201d Chief Jones recalled. \u201cHe interviewed, and it didn\u2019t work out, but like a true fireman he didn\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really satisfied with him,\u201d the fire chief added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to serving at Delphos, King earned his Firefighter 2, EMT Advanced, and HazMat technician certifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Chief Jones\u2019 introduction, Mayor Jerry Mazur swore King in, while the new VWFD firefighter\u2019s wife, Paige, held the Bible. Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming then presented him with his badge and a certificate of appointment and Paige King pinned the badge on her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firefighter King, who serves on Fire Captain David Cummings\u2019 shift, said he was excited about starting what he sees as a long career at Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to serve the city and see where the next 28-30 years go,\u201d he noted. \u201cFor the long haul, I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor It\u2019s not surprising that Addison King wanted to be a firefighter. In fact, it would probably have been surprising if he wanted to do anything else. King, who was sworn in as a full-time Van Wert firefighter on Friday morning, said he grew up watching his father, Middle Point Fire Chief and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 12:56:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}