Falcon Firefighter Lt. Steve McKenna wants to get a message out to the community, “People need to understand the importance of a fire department’s response time. It’s critical when you’re hurt and call 911 or when your home is on fire.”McKenna is the only Falcon volunteer firefighter who lives in Claremont Ranch, which generates 30 to 50 emergency calls per month. He said he spends many nights responding to calls in Claremont Ranch and Falcon, as well as going on mutual aid calls in Cimarron Hills and Ellicott, where his EMT skills are used to save lives.Unfortunately, many people living in Claremont Ranch don’t know they are in the Falcon Fire District. “Most people see Falcon trucks show up at the scene of a fire and wonder what we are doing there,” McKenna said. Colorado Springs Fire Station 17 is only three minutes away from their homes, so they assume Springs Fire will respond to their emergency calls.”McKenna began working as a Falcon firefighter four years ago. “I like to be active in the community, and I had firefighting experience in the Army, so you could say volunteering for the fire department fits my niche.”He is originally from Ohio, but his wife, Suzie, grew up in the Springs, and her parents still live here. After a 20 year career in the Army, McKenna said they decided to move back to the area.Volunteer firefighters work hard to balance family life and a full-time job with their firefighting duties. McKenna is the branch manager for US Bank, and he has two children, Collin, age 6, and 2-year-old Katie. “Now, there are swimming and tennis lessons,” he said. “Suzie works part-time as a physical therapist, so it can be a juggling act. But we enjoy life here, and I always set aside time for my family, including an annual camping trip with Collin and his grandpa.”Two emergency calls stand out in McKenna’s mind. “One was a hard call turned good, and the other one was a call that ended bad but (the situation) points out the need for a station in Claremont Ranch,” he said. He described the calls.A few years ago, a 4-year-old girl fell out of a second-story window. She was in critical condition when McKenna arrived on the scene. She had to be air-lifted to the hospital, but she recovered after months of rehabilitation. McKenna still keeps in touch with her family.One evening, he said he responded to a call for a baby who was not breathing. Because Klein lives in Claremont Ranch, he arrived on the scene in three minutes and started CPR on the infant. While he was able to establish a heartbeat, the baby suffered brain damage and died. The cause was later determined as sudden infant death syndrome.”I shed a few tears after both of those calls, especially because the children involved were about the same age as my own kids,” McKenna said. “It really makes you go home and hug your children after calls like that, because you are so thankful for what you have.”Although he knows having a fire station in Claremont Ranch would not have saved the baby with SIDS, McKenna said he worries that Falcon residents may not understand a manned fire station in that subdivision can save lives. “I can’t emphasize enough, response time is critical in any emergency, and it would also help the department’s recruiting efforts if Claremont residents had a station in their own neighborhood,” he said. “Right now, it’s just me down there.”Between family and work and volunteering, McKenna said he likes to sneak in a few rounds of golf or tennis. And he enjoys reading any book written by Tom Clancy.The Falcon fire department could use “a lot more” volunteer firefighters, McKenna said, but he plans to be there “for a long time.”
