By DANIELLE McNAMARA
Contra Costa Times (California)
ANTIOCH, Calif. — Thursday afternoon at Station 81 in Antioch was turning out to be a slow one, so Capt. Brent Warren had time to make dinner the right way — from scratch.
“Food is one of the only things we have control over, so we enjoy it,” Warren said.
That’s because, with 24-hour shifts and calls coming in at all times of the day, firefighters are often on the go.
Three-person shifts are on a 24-hour rotating schedule. That means Warren and his other team members, John Lempke and Vito Impastato, spend plenty of time together, not only responding to fires, medical emergencies and accidents, but also living and eating together.
After lunch, Lempke and Impastato loaded the dishwasher while Warren gathered his accouterments, sharpened knives and gassed up the patio barbecue.
In the freezer he keeps oil in a glass and blended adobo chilis in ice cube trays. They’re for the salsa and refried beans; but that comes later.
Warren grew up in Southern California and set his sights on being a firefighter after hearing a high school announcement about it. When he visited a fire station shortly thereafter, he was hooked. He began as an on-call firefighter and worked in forestry. He later moved to the Bay Area and started with Con Fire.
As for cooking, Warren said he’s been interested for years. The firefighters must buy their own food, but the district provides the utensils and kitchen appliances. He watches the Food Network, would rather hand-chop than use a food processor and hopes to make his own mozzarella cheese. And microwaves? Ha. For amateurs and bachelors.
Of the three-man crew, John Lemke, the truck engineer, is the only bachelor. He’s generally on meal cleanup.
So after all the lunch dishes are being cycled through the dishwasher, and his tools and food are in order, Warren begins cleaning, seasoning and boiling a whole chicken.
A pile of roma tomatoes, onions, limes and fresh cilantro are piled on the counter next to a large cutting board. The tomatoes and onions are blackened on the grill for the salsa.
“You can’t have homemade salsa and eat store-bought chips,” he said, while dropping pieces of corn tortillas in hot oil.
Can’t argue with that.
Fire marshal Richard Carpenter said many stations have great cooks.
“Sometimes they argue over what to make, who makes it. There’s some good ones out there,” he said.
At Station 81 on West 10th Street, firefighters have been in the kitchen for years. The station was built in the 1950s. The kitchen cabinets and tile give away its age. But Warren doesn’t mind.
“There’s something about the older stations,” he said. “The new ones are nice, of course, but ones like this have a lot of history.”
On some nights, Warren says, they don’t eat dinner until 11 p.m. because they keep getting calls; and meals are often interrupted.
For the holidays, family members will be invited to the station for a big Italian dinner.
“Fire service is like a big family. There’s a lot that takes place at the table beside eating. We kick around ideas and thoughts.”