The fire service has been a part of Fire Chief J.B. Moody's entire life.
Moody, 42, grew up in Nekoosa, and his father was a volunteer firefighter and paramedic for the Nekoosa Fire Department.
"It's been something around our household forever," Moody said.
Moody had originally planned to be a flight nurse or an anesthetist, but he went into the United States Air Force and, about three years into nursing school, he was deployed overseas shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"After being in the field, I realized I didn't want to do this; I didn't want to be a nurse," Moody said. "I wanted to be in the field." Moody dropped out of nursing school, went to Mid-State Technical College to become a firefighter-paramedic and, in 2004, joined the Stevens Point Fire Department. He was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and came back to Stevens Point in 2006.