Alex Anduaga has been a Tucson firefighter and EMT for almost ten years, and one call still sticks with him. A semi rear-ended a line of cars on I-10, and when he and his partner arrived, they were the only unit on scene. No captain, no battalion chief, nobody above him. So Alex took command himself, for twenty minutes, ordering helicopters and additional ambulances while triaging eight injured people, including two little girls in the back of one of the cars.

He walks through that call in detail, and it's the kind of story that makes you rethink what "firefighter" even means. Alex says 85% of what his department runs is medical, not fire, and most people have no idea. He also gets honest about something most first responders don't say out loud: how he's managed to avoid the moment where the job catches up with you emotionally, and why he t ...