Every firefighter knows a call can come at any time.
But the Rev. Dave Driesch and the Rev. Tim McGill serve a God as well as their community — meaning their pagers go off while they’re praying or leading a service. Driesch, a veteran firefighter and Catholic priest who is prior of Daylesford Abbey, is helping newbie firefighter and Southern Baptist minister McGill, pastor of Paoli Community Church, balance both worlds. “If I heard the siren go off during Mass, and I heard one engine leave, and then a second engine leave, I’d speed things up a bit, cut that sermon short, and just get moving,” said Driesch, describing how he has fine-tuned his personal fire gauge, developed over the last 30 years.
“[McGill] will say, ‘I ran out of something at the church. Was that OK?,’ I tell him, ‘You’ll learn when you can leave and when you can’t leave. Obviously, you don’t leave during a wedding or funeral.’ ”