By Jared McNett
Sioux City Journal
SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa — The hose just wasn’t rolled up quite right.
At the Sergeant Bluff Fire Station on Wednesday afternoon, brothers Carson and Cy Gaul noticed a hose on one of the trucks, unraveled the whole thing and tried again. Their father, Anthony, stood watch at first and had a smile stretching across his face as his two sons tended to the task at hand. As it was close to being coiled tight, Anthony joined in. The three Gauls hardly had to say anything to one another at that point. It was second nature for the father and sons.
As of late, Anthony, 52, has had a lot to smile about as it relates to his lifelong profession. Earlier this month, the city of Sergeant Bluff named Anthony its first full-time fire chief after he had served in that position in a volunteer capacity for 16 years (he started with the department in 1991). He’ll officially “start” in the role July 1 .
Over Father’s Day weekend, Anthony and Carson, who works for the Sioux City Fire Department and volunteers for Sergeant Bluff, had the chance to bond by road tripping to Watertown, S.D. for state fire school training. Cy marked a birthday on Thursday while on shift. A few months back, at an emergency call in March, five members of the Gaul family were on the scene: Anthony and his two sons as well as his brother and his nephew. It took until the end of the call for the weight of that to fully sink in.
“It was neat to see that people are doing this and they’re giving back to the community that they grew up in,” Anthony said.
For Anthony, the journey to becoming a firefighter started in his teen years. He began volunteering with Sergeant Bluff just after he graduated high school. At the time, no one in his family had been on a fire department. His motivation came from a friend he worked with at Hy-Vee. (As fate would have it, that friend’s son now works for the Sergeant Bluff Fire Department .)
While in college, he was on shifts with the Vermillion, S.D., fire department. He has also worked part-time for Woodbury County Emergency Services and has been with a state search and rescue team and has taught at Sioux City West Middle School and the Sioux City Career Academy. At the latter, he schooled the kids on fire science and EMS classes. In Sergeant Bluff , he implemented and maintained the Sergeant Bluff Fire Rescue High School program. That’s brought Anthony a good deal of fulfillment.
“I think especially as I’ve gotten older, it’s seeing the young people that have come on or that I’ve been able to help teach that are now in the fire service or in the volunteer world or in the career world. I really enjoy that,” he said. “I’ve taught for almost 30 years and I love to see the program we’ve developed here in Sergeant Bluff as well. It’s produced a lot of firefighters for our community.”
Given that their dad was involved with firefighting for the entirety of each of their lives, the path was something different for Carson and Cy.
“Don’t think I really had a choice,” Carson said. “Kind of in the family with dad and uncle and aunt and my sister was on at the time, too. She’s moved away now. Grew up around it my whole life. Was always interested in it. Always coming by the station for as long as I can remember. So kind of just in the blood.”
Cy’s trajectory doesn’t deviate much from his older brother’s.
“I knew that I was going to end up getting on just with my whole family being on. But seeing how much (my) brother’s enjoyed it made it even easier to get on for me,” Cy said.
From Anthony’s perspective, he didn’t necessarily do much to directly steer his kids toward firefighting.
“I don’t know if they knew anything different,” he said.
When Carson was 4 or 5, he got the chance to interact with firefighters from around the country who were in town for RAGBRAI, which Sergeant Bluff was hosting for the first time. Anthony remembers him giving a tour to some of the bigwigs from the Phoenix Fire Department . As a kindness, they sent him a package with firefighter shirts and patches and hats. A few years later, an older Carson went across the state with his dad who was teaching a forcible entry class.
“If they had an interest in something, I wanted to encourage it and help them,” Anthony said of his kids. “These two are definitely two that don’t sit back and just whatever happens, happens. They’re out trying to learn constantly.”
Carson and Cy agree that their dad giving them so many different opportunities to learn has mattered more than any one piece of “fatherly advice.”
“More the mindset that he puts us in where you’re never really complacent and you’re always trying to learn more and do better,” Cy said.
“He gives us the chance to get better at doing this job,” Carson said.
Even in their off time, Carson and Cy like to come to the station and just hang out and learn. Anthony said that’s the kind of environment he wants to maintain as full-time chief, a place that is welcoming and conducive to learning.
Carson and Cy both said they were incredibly excited for their dad when he got the news about going full-time.
“It was kind of a stressful little bit for him. I think he was relieved once that was announced. I don’t think there’s any other person better for the job,” Carson said.
“It was nice to know he’s here all the time,” Cy added.
A managerial position is something Carson and Cy say they might want to get into down the road (neither has hit 25 yet so there’s plenty of time).
What seems even more likely is that Anthony might one day have grandkids who take to firefighting, too.
“Neither us have kids at this time but I would say it’s probably a pretty good chance that they do,” said Carson.
Cy agreed: “Knowing how we grew up and how this fire department has treated us before we were on is something that I would want my future kids to have. You can’t really replace that family bonding.”
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