Andrew Ronald Roszak's Website:: 2006

My Travels - Master List

(from 2001 to Current)

Las Vegas, NV - November 2001

Carbondale, IL - March 2002

St. Louis, Mo - April 2002

Branson, Mo - July 2002

West Virginia - April 2003

New Orleans, LA - May 2003

Pennsylvania - October 2003

Chicago, IL - Cubs Game 7 - October 2003

Monticello, IN - May 2004

DC's - Lowell, IN - October 2004

Chicago, IL - Art Show - October 2004

Chicago, IL - Cast of the Cut - October 2004

Champaign, IL - Final Four Playoffs - April 2005

Mahomet, IL - Jill's Wedding- June 2005

Valaparasio, IN - July 4 2005

Chicago, IL - Wrigley Field - July 2005

Chester, IL - August 2005

Tamms, IL - August 2005

St. Louis, MO - Labor Day - 2005

St. Louis, MO - Old Busch Stadium - Cubs v Cards - October 2005

East Coast Roadtrip - March 2006

St. Louis, MO - New Busch Stadium - August 2006

Chicago, IL - Dave Matthews Concert - Cubs v Reds - September 2006

Heidi and Matthews Wedding - October 2006

Bloomington, IL - Journey / Def Leppard Concert - October 2006

FAA Tower October 2006

Carbondale, Illinois - Southern Illinois University - Halloween 2006

Gettysburg, PA - December 2006

New York, New York - Times Square New Years Eve 2006

New Orleans - Mardi Gras - Feb 2007

Orlando - March 2007

Washington D.C. - March 2007

Chicago, Illinois - July 4, 2007

Memphis, TN - Labor Day September 2007

Athens, Georgia - University of Georgia - September 2007

Champaign, Illinois - University of Illinois - Halloween October 2007

Carbondale, Illinois - Southern Illinois University - Halloween October 2007

Tour De Tejas - November 2007

London - December 2007

Salisbury, Wiltshire and Stonehenge - December 2007

Paris - December 2007

Northern Ireland - Belfast - December 2007

Northern Ireland - Down Patrick - December 2007

Dublin, Ireland - December 2007

Rio De Janeiro, Brasil - New Years 2007

Chicago, Illinois - SmartBar - DJ Kaskade Februrary 2008

Miami, Florida - Februrary 2008

Cancun, Mexico - March 2008

Loretto, KY - Makers Mark Factory - April 2008

Washington, DC - April 2008

Warsaw, Poland - May 2008

Krakow, Poland - May 2008

Wroclaw, Poland - May 2008

Berlin, Germany - May 2008

Poznan, Poland - May 2008

Baltimore, MD - June 2008

Albuquerque, New Mexico - June 2008

Alexandria, Virginia - July 2008

Washington, D.C. - July 4, 2008

Richmond, Virginia - July 2008

Emmitsburg, Maryland - National Fire Academy - September 2008

Baltimore, Maryland - Flying with Trooper 1 Helicopter - September 2008

Atlanta, Georgia - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - October 2008

Philadelphia, PA - October 2008

San Diego, California - October 2008

Las Vegas, Nevada - October 2008 - Halloween

Cancun, Mexico - New Years Eve 2008

Denver, Boulder and Breckenridge Colorado - February 2009

Las Vegas, Nevada - February 2009

Phoenix, Arizona - February 2009

Mesa, Arizona - Cubs Spring Training - February 2009

Boston, Massachusetts - March 2009

Portland and Augusta Maine - March 2009

HIMSS09 - Chicago, IL - April 2009

Park City, Utah - May 2009

After taking a job at an ice cream parlor, named Skipper's, in the little, rural, town of Grant Park, Illinois, I met Frank Fouts. Frank was the owner of the ice creams shop son, and also a paid on call volunteer for the Grant Park Fire Protection District. I became fanscinated with the Fire Department and decided to pursue a career in the fire service, rather thatn a career in broadcasting (sorry Columbia College).

Soon I was hanging out at the fire station all the time. Due to my good grades, interest in the department, and the fact that the GPFPD lacked man power during the daytime hours, I was accepted into the department as a cadet (at the ripe age of 16).

The local fire Chief, Richard Shronts, worked out a deal with my principal, Mike Nicholson, that allowed me to leave school to respond to emergency calls.

The first time I responded to a house fire was November 16, 1996. Grant Park was not really all that busy - normally one house fire a year or so. I had just gotten out of school, and was, as usual, hanging around the fire station when the call came in. Myself, Assistant Chief Robert Shronts, Captain Phil Moyer, Frank Fouts and Mike Keen responded to the call. That is right, five people! Chief Richard Shronts met us out at the scene. Anyways, I was under strict orders not to go inside the building, but I could help outside - breaking windows opening doors, feeding in hose, getting equipment, etc. I was venting a window from the outside while Fouts and Keen were inside the building attempting to locate the seat of the fire. All of a sudden I began hearing a loud racket from inside.. Fouts was yelling something, but through his air mask I could not make it out. So I kept saying, I hear ya.. what are you saying? Finally I managed to comprehend what he was yelling -- MAN DOWN! As it turns out, Keen and Fouts were crawling through the house looking for the seat of the fire, when they fell into the basement, the floor had burned clear through and unbeknowst to Fouts or Keen - there was just a huge hole in the floor of the master bedroom.

At this point, the Chief was up on the roof of the building with an axe - making a hole for ventilation. I yelled to him and then went a grabbed a ladder from the engine. The Chief jumped off the roof and assisted me, we put the ladder in through the window and then the Chief went inside and helped Fouts and Keen locate the ladder and get out of there. Both men escaped unhurt - however after the fire and smoke cleared the true miracle showed itself.. At the edge of what was left of the floor stood two huge bookcases, loaded to the gills with books... It was a miracle that during all the comotion and the fire that these bookcases did not fall into the basement on top of Fouts/Keen. Fouts and I often laughed about this situation and how If I had not of been there, at that window then no one would have ever knew that they had fallen into the basement and needed help. I guess you could say that was my first 'rescue' in the Fire business. Not bad for my first house fire.

What GPFPD did not get in house fires, they made up for in automobile accidents. With Route 1 / 17 going through the heart of the town, many truckers would sneak into Illinois from Indiana and use this back country road to avoid the scales. This led to tremendous crashes, and the nearest hospital was around 45 minutes to an hour away (even with lights and sirens) which led to a lot of time in the back of an ambulance. Which also led to becoming very familiar with the Hurst Jaws of Life. I recieved a 'green cross' award from the makers of the Jaws of Life for saving two people who were trapped in a vehicle accident - by properly deploying the Jaws we were able to free them from the badly damaged car and timely get them to a hospital where they made a full recovery.

After graduating High School, I began working on my career in the fire service by studying to become a Paramedic. It is an intense 3 year process, from EMT-Basic to EMT-Intermediate to EMT-Paramedic. In the process, I recieved my Associates Degree in Paramedic Supervision from Kankakee Community College.

I then moved on to a different department, Manteno. Manteno was a neighboring town of Grant Park, however Manteno was growing quickly, and so was there fire department. The Chief in Manteno was hiring full time firefighter - paramedics to staff his station around the clock. It was a highly organized and well trained department, which was what I was looking for at the time. I rented a house across from the fire station and applied to be a member. I got accepted and began working in a paid on call capacity.

Well, being a paid on call firefighter did not exactly pay the bills... So I began looking for more professional employment. I decided to give up on the days of working at the ice cream parlor, the golf course, Monicals pizza, and moonlighting working around the farms - bailing hay and working on occasion at the chicken / egg farm.

I began a career with Co*Med Ambulance. Co*Med was formerly Daley's ambulance and is now called Buds Ambulance. The company was based out of Harvey / Dolton Illinois. At the time, Co*Med was contracted to provide 911 coverage for 21 cities all across the south side of Chicago. It was quite an experience. In addition, the company was also back up coverage for the City of Chicago and was contracted with the University of Chicago's - UCAN Helicopter, which provided transportation to high risk patients via helicopter, or ground ambulance if the weather prevented flying. - Found on the web at http://www.uchospitals.edu/specialties/heart/referral/ucan.html

While working full time at Co*Med, and moonlighting as a pharmacy techincian at St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee, I finished off my Associates degree and became a paramedic. Co*Med was a very unique experience and I would not trade it for anything. During my 3 years with Co*Med I saw everything from guns shots, to stabbings, to births, to overdoses. Some of the towns we contracted with, such as Harvey, Robbins, Riverdale, Dolton, Phoenix, were pretty rough. Not to mention the fact that I worked the 7pm - 7am night shift. I also had the opportunity to dispatch for a while with Co*Med, which was pretty neat, I got to combine my dreams of being a radio dj with the emergency services stuff so that was a neat experience. It was also very stressful, not only did we take the 9-1-1 calls, but then I had to select the closest unit and provide them with real time directions to the scene of the emergency. Working nights, there was only myself and an assistant who was an EMT-Basic in the room. So basically all of the decisions fell into my lap. Pretty stressful coordinating 60-80 ambulances when several life or death situations are pending.

Adam Stolzenberg, one of my longest and best partners while working for Co*Med. I can not stress how much having a good partner means when you are stuck with them for 12 hours at a time. Adam and I became, and still are, great friends. The ability to take a stressful situation and be able to calm down and laugh about it is a great thing when you are working in a high stress environment. Adam has moved on, and is now working for Progressive Insurance, he and his wife, Kate, have a beautiful daughter together.

After working full time with Co*Med and finishing up my paramedic and associate degree it was time to start looking for a full time firefighter job. I moonlighted at Balmoral Park Racetrack as a medic during the harness racing season, and also worked 12 hour shifts at the Village of Richton Park Fire Department. Richton Park was fun, especially the junior fire academy that they hosted every year, which I was an instructor for. Also, with Olympia Fields level one trauma center right down the road, there was always action.

I then was offered full time hours at the Manteno Fire Protection District. This worked out well since I was still living in Manteno at the time. This cut down a lot on my traveling. However, I was not given benefits or overtime. Still, this was one step closer to living the dream. I was constantly testing for fire departments all over the state, Kankakee interviewed me four times, each time I had to remind them that I was not 21 yet.

In September of 2000, two months after turning 21(which was required to get hired), I fullfilled my dream of becoming a full time union firefighter-paramedic. The job offer came from the City of Kankakee Fire Department, which is where Frank Fouts had also accepted a job a few years earlier.

I could not believe it, I was finally 'living the dream'. I worked on B shift for the first year of my career at Kankakee, under the direction of Captian Maynard Denault. I learned a lot and realized how much more there was to learn, the volunteer / paid on call days had helped, but it was nothing compared to the knowledge that a full time professional career firefighter should possess.

After finishing my Associates Degree, I began working on my bachelor's degree. I was accepted into the Southern Illinois University off campus program, which was held at the Chicago Fire Academy. It was quite a thrill being at the CFD Academy once a week, I met a lot of wonderful men and learned alot. The Chicago Fire Academy is actually located on the grounds where Ms. O'Leary's farm once stood. Which we all know was the start of the Great Chicago Fire, when O'Leary's cow kicked over the latern in the barn. In 2001 I finished my bachelor's degree and was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Fire Science Management. I began working on my Master's in Public Administration at Governors State University, located about 45 minutes south of Chicago.

I concentrated on being a full time firefighter/paramedic. I went to as many training classes as I could.. I started racking up the state certificates. Soon, I was asked to be a member of the Kankakee City Fire Department Fire Investigation Unit. The Fire Investigation Unit was a small group of certified fire/arson investigators that were responsible for determining cause and origin of the fires. On my shift, It was just myself and a lieutenant that were charged with this responsibility. When the lieutenant was off, it was all me. This became very interesting, especially when Illinois Governor George Ryan moved back to his hometown of Kankakee admist serious allegations of wrong doing and abuse of the office of governor. The town went up in flames, houses, childrens playgrounds, cars, they were all burned - most of the time with the words 'Die Ryan Die' scratched or painted somewhere on the objects.

I was also appointed to several other committees, such as the communications committee, the new apparatus committee (we recieved a grant from the federal government to purchase a new fire truck through the FIRE ACT), the pre-plan committee, standard operating procedures committee, and I also was the lead instructor for CPR and AED renewal on our department. (I was the only instructor-trainer on the department). I also helped extensively with the Kankakee Police Citizens Academy, and the Kankakee Police Teen Camp - teaching first aid, fire safety, CPR, and fire extinguisher use. During Fire Prevention week, which was Fire Prevention Month for us, we visited every single school and did presentations and every student from 1-3rd grade had to go through our 'fire safety house'. The safety house would fill with fake smoke, and we would teach the children how to exit a burning building. I was appointed as lead educator on my shift for three years in a row, which meant myself and a fully dressed firefighter would go into the classrooms and speak with the children regarding fire safety. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it.

I was also active in the firefighters union, International Association of Firefighters - Local 653. I was appointed to head up the public relations division. I would travel to various neighborhood groups and give presentations about the Fire Department, unfortuantely due to politics the actual City would not allow me to do the talks on duty, so I volunteered my free time to promote our Fire Department and interact with the citizens. I also established a public outreach program by utilizing our local county fair. The fair booth was a great program, which allowed us to interact with the community and also solicit donations to the MDA to help fight muscular dystrophy. We also provided safety literature, free blood pressure screenings and tons of freebies for the children. The City and the Union did not work well together, and unfortunatley, the Union had to front all costs and expenses for everything at the fair, including literature regarding fire safety and coloring books / buttons / pens and pencils for the children. During the second year, the relationship became so bad that we were banned from taking our firefighting bunker gear to the fair (we had previously taken out the gear so the children could play dress up). Fortunately a few guys managed to find some 'old gear' that we ended up using.

Things continued at the KFD, and I attended one training after the next. I attained the State certification of Fire Officer 1 which represented over 200 hours of training that I had completed, most of which was focused on fire ground and emergency management.

The view below is from atop Kankakee's 100 foot Aerial Platform. Tower 1 is housed at Station 6, where I spent a good deal of time in 2002 with Firefighter, now LT., Ron Atchison. Also below is a picture from a training exercise we did.. unfortunatley, after the training exercise it was learned that we burned down the wrong house. Opps.. our bad!

Pictured Below: Firefighter Roger Sipple and Myself attending a 9-1-1 Memorial Service to honor our 343 fellow brother firefighters that died during the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Seen below, is myself and Ron Atchison.. Here I am, hard at work, performing one of many fire/arson investigations. The camera's kind of make me look like a tourist, eh?

Riding Shotgun out at Station Five.. Engine 5 was a 75 foot quint.

The below picture was taken during a house fire on Enos Avenue in Kankakee - After fighting the fire, we discovered a 'growing room' for marijuana in the basement. Outside, by a statue of Jesus, there were also pot plants growing. Oh how nice. The two boys had a hard time explaining that to Grandma.

Memorial Service held at the United Center, in Chicago, IL a week or so after the attacks on 9/11.

Making lifting the patients that much easier.. Below the boys and me try out a stair chair that uses 'treds' much like a furniture dolly to move patients down stairs. I found this product and wrote a proposal to purchase them for the department. Ultimately we purchased two of them at a price tag of around 6,000.

Filling in for the shift commander can be a stressful job. Here, I am taking Lt. Shaun Ronek's (aka Tubby) blood pressure. Right after this photo we got called to a rocking house fire.. go figure..

Firefighter of the Year 2002-2003

I was awarded as Firefighter of the Year for Kankakee County in 2002.

The award was for a successful rescue of two children from a mobile home that was on fire. Myself and Firefighter Ronald Atchison pulled a 3 year old and a 5 year old from the mobile home while it was ablaze.

In order to reach the children, we broke through the outer wall of a trailor with our bare hands. We did so without the protection of any hose line

(we were assigned to the ambulance so we didn't have any fire hoses).

I then performed CPR on the children. Both children survived and are currently living normal life styles after suffering from both 2nd and 3rd degree burns to the majority of their bodies.

As recognition for the rescue, I was awarded by the Mayor of Kankakee and the City Council. I recieved an our work,

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One of the incredible facts about this incident was that from the time we recieved the call until the time the children were at the hospital was 8 minutes. When we recieved the original dispatch I was sound asleep, which means in less than 10 minutes I went from sound asleep to saving two lives, no wonder so many firefighters have heart attacks!