Dan Sink

I always had an interest as a kid. I lived down the street from a couple of firefighters, Jim Fry and Dick Lamb, when I was really young. As I graduated high school, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do and started taking an EMT class. I became more associated with fire and EMS through that. I started talking to some of the people whom I knew were already on the fire department and applied. I graduated EMT school in June of 1981, turned 22 in September, and got hired and started Nov. 6 of ’81. So it was a busy year.

Let’s face it: We started this in February and it’s now November, and it’s worse than what it was at our worst peak in May and June. I think the hardest thing has been for us…the way we work, we work 24-hour shifts. We live like a family, so the whole social distancing and COVID practices become harder for us. We had to change a lot of what we do. We have plexiglass separations at the tables. You saw the plexiglass in my office. Just things like that that don’t blend very well when you live like a family, to be honest.

I’m on the board of directors for the state chiefs association, and then I’m also the chairman of the Indiana Fire Alliance. The Fire Alliance is a group of the largest fire service organizations in the state. I’m also on the board of the Great Lakes Division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.