Arturo Perez was a Big Red One soldier when he arrived in the Fort Riley/Junction City area, only to fall in love and make it his permanent home.

Perez, originally from Panama City, Panama said that qualities like teamwork and helping others is what drew him to become a firefighter after separating from the military.

“I think helping people, being part of a team is what drove me [here] to the Fire Department,” said Perez.

A typical day at the Junction City Fire Department (JCFD) can sometimes be anything but “typical”.

“Monday through Friday we have our days pretty much cut out for us starting at 8:00 – we get up check our vehicles, respond to calls, clean the Fire Station or things like that; sometimes we have tours or inspections and in between that we have to fit training and responding to calls as well,” said Perez.

A requirement for all Junction City firefighters is that they are also EMT certified at a minimum. Perez said that EMS calls outweigh fire calls for the most part.

“We definitely do see a lot more EMS calls than we do fires…so it is really good to have a strong EMS background,” said Perez who also is fluent in Spanish which comes in handy quite often. “We responded to several calls that we had Spanish speaking patients or family members that we had to communicate with.”

Perez, 32, has been with the JCFD for four years.

Tune in at 5:00 pm on 1420 KJCK – The Talk of JC to hear the interview and like Junction City Post on Facebook for local news, updates, and features.