Long-time Madison Fire Department member and leader John Fleming retired after 29 years of service this month.
The department said Fleming was inspired to join the profession after watching his father and other family friends enjoy the career.
According to the fire department, after Fleming graduated from the recruit academy in 1994, he was assigned to Fire Station 9. When Fleming was promoted to Apparatus Engineer in 2000, he was briefly transferred to Station 8. And spent 2001 to 2009 at Fire Station 1.
Fleming was promoted in 2010 to lieutenant and back at Station 8, home of the Heavy Urban Rescue Team (HURT). “You never know what you’re going to get into," Fleming said, reminiscing over his career, especially his years with HURT. He continued, "It’s always something different. It could be a plane in a tree or a guy in a concrete mixer,” referencing a call the team responded to in 2011.