While Pembroke Pines celebrates, police and firefighters work through the season
Inside Station 69 in Pembroke Pines, three firefighters sat inside an office within the two-story station, talking about the holiday season, how they cope with long shifts, missed family time and celebrating away from home.
Then the station’s speakers crackled. “Rescue 69, respond to chest pains,” followed by an address.
The conversation stopped.
Within seconds, Battalion Chief Steven March, Captain Moe Martinez and Driver Engineer Sean Gilmartin were on their feet, responding to the call.
For essential personnel, the holiday season is a continuous balancing act. While most residents hang lights and spend time with loved ones, police and fire crews spend the season with service, sacrifice and small moments of celebration at the stations between calls.
For Officer Aameel Mohammed of the Pembroke Pines Police Department, the hardest part of working the holidays is leaving his three young children at home.
Mohammed, who has been with the department for about a year and a half, said the absence is felt most during this season.
“We’re here with our second family,” Mohammed told the Pembroke Pines News on Dec. 18. “So you kind of have to find ways to get those emotions and balance them out.”
Fire Capt. March echoed that sentiment. As a father, he said missing Noche Buena, a central Christmas Eve tradition in many Hispanic households, weighs heavily.
“I think that’s the one thing I miss,” he said. “Losing out on that feeling, them waking up and you’re not there.”
For Gilmartin, the sacrifice is something he’s experienced from both sides. He grew up as the child waiting for a parent to come home from a holiday shift.
“I actually was the kid at one point,” Gilmartin said. “You wake up early, but you have to wait. Everybody understands how important it is, so people try to relieve you early if they can.”
Holiday shifts are not assigned arbitrarily. At the police department, shifts are bid every six months and assigned through a rotating system, said Officer Jon Cusack, a field training officer for the day shift who has been with the station for 26 years.
“We understand that maybe we get this holiday off, next time we’re going to have to work a holiday,” Cusack said.
The same structure exists at Station 69. Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue operates on a three-shift system, A, B, C, and whichever shift lands on Christmas or New Year’s Day works it, said Martinez, who has been with the city for 24 years.
This year, the winter holidays fall on C shift.
The holidays also bring a heightened emotion to the calls first responders answer. Cusack said that while Christmas night can tend to be slower, allowing more time to patrol and interact with the community, the season itself often amplifies feelings.
“Holidays can sometimes bring out different emotions in people,” Cusack said. “You never take the human aspect out of police work and you try to relate.”
Officer Anthony Tello, who previously served with the San Diego Police Department before joining Pembroke Pines, said some calls stay with officers long after the holiday ends.
“I’ve had a few deaths,” Tello said. “Having to tell a loved one on New Year’s that their mother had passed away.”
At the fire department, Martinez said those experiences are difficult to revisit.
“We have bad calls every once in a while, and they stick to us and they stick in our head,” he said. “It’s traumatic for the family, for everybody involved and it’s traumatic for the first responders who have to deal with it … and bury it, and try not to talk about them sometimes, because there’s always reminders out there.”
To cope, March emphasizes the importance of talking to each other and using the available resources.
“I think the best way for us is talking to each other because we experience it together. We look out for each other, we talk about it in a healthy way,” March said. “Especially around the holidays, the best way is just to separate our lives from that call so we don’t take it home and it affects our kids, our families.”
Holiday traditions at both stations help create a sense of normalcy during the heaviness, with shared meals, potlucks and gift exchanges.
Cusack said police officers often gather for a holiday luncheon, a yearly tradition where command staff bring meals to those working the shift.
“We do it as a kind of family,” he said.
Cusack says that one of the traditions they have at the station is that of a retired school resource officer who has kept this tradition alive for 20 years. Every New Year’s Day from 6 to 11 a.m., officers can rotate in depending on their shift.
At the fire station, the kitchen and dining table serve a similar role.
“We spend a third of our lives with each other. So in the kitchen, in the dining room area, that’s where we’re really celebrating our time with each other,” he said. “We’re doing all those things that a normal family does, it’s just we do it here and then we have to run calls in between.”
Families are often invited to join the firefighters at the station for holiday meals, March said, allowing children and spouses to share time together.
The sense of community extends beyond the station’s walls. Firefighters also volunteered for the annual city’s Santa Express, a program that received more than 600 reservations this year, even briefly overwhelming the city’s website.
Volunteers, including Gilmartin, dressed as Santa and visited Pembroke Pines neighborhoods to bring holiday cheer to families.
Even with the sacrifices, many say the work continues to bring purpose.
“I think it’s a privilege or an honor to say that, we’re going to be protecting them on the holiday. It’s my crew protecting the citizens of Pembroke Pines, and we’re pretty proud of that,” Martinez said.
“Sad to be missing all that special time with my family, but I’m glad that I’m able to be here with my second family being able to provide protection to the community.”
