Mary Marchone never imagined giving nearly 50 years to the fire service when she was hired as an office assistant for Montgomery County, MD, Fire Rescue in 1969.
But over the course of nearly 50 years, that office assistant educated herself on fire safety and prevention and eventually became one of the most well regarded training specialists in the country.
"It was never on my radar," Marchone said Thursday -- her first day of retirement -- about her career trajectory in an interview with Firehouse.com.
The moment that changed everything came in 1973 when she read "America Burning," a report written by the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control appointed by President Richard Nixon