05/22/2026
Let’s go for a “feel good” story today - with no birds.
It was 7-years-ago that I shot this young man doing a senior project. As a senior at Elyria High School, Jack Baily chose firefighting and the Elyria Fire Department for his project. And boy was he happy he did.
The guys at EFD really rallied around Baily and taught him the ropes. Baily also stayed at the station for some overnight shifts.
Not only was he able to respond with the guys to a house fire, but he was lucky enough to be photographed to the wonderful -
TMC News. I even got in some shots around the station during some of his training.
I’ll post Baily’s full story from 7 years ago below.
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When Elyria High School senior Jack Bailey heard over the announcements details of a “Senior Project" he quickly jumped at the opportunity.
"I looked into it right away and found out that seniors have the opportunity to, instead of being in class for the final 3 weeks of the senior calendar, you can do a job shadow."
Bailey who has family members in the fire service, wanted to see if he qualified for the project and then to see if it was possible to do it with a fire department.
Requirements:
Spending 75 hours with
someone in a job field that you are interested in going into.
You have to be passing all of your classes.
At the start of the project you have to maintain a C or above in all classes.
Bailey met all requirements with the school, now to get a fire department to accept him.
Bailey reached out to his family who are working in the fire service to help him find a department. He could not do the project at their departments because rules say you cannot shadow family.
After reaching out and receiving a positive response from Captain Rick Fuehrer at the Elyria Fire Department, the ball started rolling.
After fire officials reviewed the program they reached out to Bailey and welcomed him into the firehouse.
Bailey has done several 8 & 12 hour shifts and a couple 24 hour shifts.
Bailey said the firefighters have all been "awesome" with him during his time at the station.
He said his nervousness went away after some of the guys pulled a prank on him during one of his 24 hour shifts. “Someone rigged my bunk to where when I got into bed it just fell through."
Bailey said an assistant chief had told him early on, "if they're not messing with you, there's a problem." So Bailey was happy to have had the prank played on him.
Bailey has seen a lot during his hours at the department, from car crashes, investigations and fires. Bailey said due to privacy issues, he was not allowed to enter homes during medial calls with the firefighters.
While doing a 24-hour-shift last week, Bailey experienced the alarm sounding just after 4am for a reported structure fire on Clark Street.
When they arrived they found heavy fire coming from a second floor bedroom. Of course Bailey couldn't suit up and go inside to fight the fire, but after the fire was out he was able to lend a hand. He put on turn out gear and assisted firefighters with the exhaust fan and clean up. They even took him inside later to see the bedroom.
Bailey has been thrilled with the experiences he has had throughout his time at Elyria Fire, saying it has exceeded all of his expectations. "The guys have been great and have taught me so much, I cannot thank them enough. During my time here, not only have I gone on calls with them but I've had meals with them, watched Game of Thrones and just had great conversations. The comradery is real and the fact that they've allowed me into that is awesome. I won't forget this experience."
Bailey said his graduation class has about 500 kids and there are only about 4 students taking part in the Senior Project. He encourages 2020 students to take advantage of this project next year, in any field they are interested in.
Bailey said his future is this: graduate in a couple weeks, enjoy a little bit of summer, take EMT classes, then become a paramedic and then the fire academy.
Assistant Chief Kevin Szabo said he would like to see the fire department get more involved with area high schools and the community at large.
"Applications for new hires has declined and I'm not sure why. When we see someone like Jack want to come spend time with us and learn what we do, especially with the amount of passion he has for this line of work, it's very gratifying. I wish we could keep him."
When asked if he would like to see others pick Elyria Fire for their Senior Projects in the future, Chief Carl Mack said, “absolutely, it's the right thing for us to do and Jack has worked out very well. I look forward to doing this again."
Bailey said that if he is fortunate enough to be a firefighter in the future, he will not only never forget what the guys at Elyria Fire did for him, he hopes he has the opportunity to do the same for someone wanting to get into the fire service.
"I have always known I wanted to do something in public safety, with having couple family members who are firefighters, who | really look up to, I realized that this is my future."
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