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thedrifter
08-16-06, 09:27 AM
Fighting fires in Iraq

By Jerome Burdi
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 16 2006

After 11/2 years battling blazes in Baghdad, firefighter Nick Christensen is looking for a job.

While Christensen, 32, of Boynton Beach, was in the fire academy at Palm Beach Community College he found a job listing on the Web site Firehouse.com: "Firefighters needed to serve in Iraq."

In November 2004, he found himself in Camp Victory base adjacent to the Baghdad International Airport, a command center of 15,000 troops.

He had a mission to save soldiers and Marines from fires -- while bombs dropped and mortars blew.

"I told him, `No,' but he was so ready to go and you could see the fire in his eyes," said County Fire-Rescue Lt. Manny Mayo, Christensen's emergency medical technician instructor at the college.

Christensen, who returned from Iraq on July 5, recently presented Mayo's station west of Boca Raton with a flag flown over Camp Victory. On Tuesday, he presented another flag from the camp to the Boynton Beach Fire-Rescue Department.

"He's not only a good guy, he's a patriot," Boynton Beach Fire-Rescue spokesman Steve Lewis said. "He has shown the guts to stay in the fight."

The firefighter operation in the desert is pretty much the same as it is anywhere.

But "there are no fire hydrants," Christensen said.

There are two trucks that rush to a fire, which usually is caused by an electrical malfunction or combat action. One is a 5,000-gallon tanker, the other a pumper. Firefighters don the same fire-retardant suits as they do here, but their helmets and vests are bulletproof Kevlar.

Christensen received a shrapnel wound to his leg, but his most horrific call was his first.

A mortar attack hit the living quarters of a soldier. He was about to retire in a month and had two weeks left in Iraq. Christensen helped pull out his lifeless, charred body.

"I went into Iraq because I respect the military," he said. "They are people you respect so much and you look up to them and they thank you. That's such an honor."

Christensen, who became engaged to his high school sweetheart while home on leave in May, said he felt most deeply for the military personnel with families.

"There's grown men on the phone almost in tears every night," he said. "They just want to come home, and I just want them to come home."

He's got time on his hands now, but Christensen said he's going to get his paramedic certification, and then it's off to the working world.

"I don't think he'll have a hard time at all," Mayo said. "He's going to have a wealth of training."

Jerome Burdi can be reached at jjburdi@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6431.

Ellie