They Come in Threes

Dave Houseal became a volunteer firefighter right after high school, and he became a career member of the Harrisburg Fire Department a few years later. He seemed destined for the job: his grandfather had been Chief of the Harrisburg Fire Department, and his father had served as the Chief of the Progress Fire Department. Quite simply; the fire service was -and is- in Dave Houseal's blood. He started his career during the American fire service's "War Year"; a period of massive social upheaval, especially in America's cities, that were often frustrating, daunting and dangerous times for firefighters because sometimes you had to fight more than fires. Some folks seemed to think that America's cities were built to burn- to burn as a protest, to burn for a profit, or to burn just for the hell of it. It was a tough time to be a firefighter...but it was also one of the greatest times to become an experienced firefighter.