Station Marine Turns Hometown Hero by Lance Cpl. Lydia Davey Marine Corps News December 29, 2004 MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan - Five-foot-high flames licked at the dry wooden porch with fierce red tongues as Livingston, Mont., native Amy Daem and her young son slept on in the house that October morning – completely unaware of the rapidly growing danger nearby. Just a few houses away, 27-year-old Lance Cpl. Austin Stallard was saying his good-byes to family and friends. Stallard, on leave and visiting his parents after completing Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting School in Texas, was scheduled to board a bus back to his home in Washington in less than an hour. However, the sight of smoke billowing from the small house down the street propelled Stallard, along with his brother's girlfriend, Nicole Alexander, to assist. "I took off running [toward the house]," said Stallard. "I threw my cell phone to Nicky and told her to call 911." Upon reaching the scene of the fire, Stallard assessed the situation and directed Alexander to use a side door to check the house for occupants as he worked to control the flames. Alexander evacuated Daem and her son, while Stallard used a garden hose to extinguish the fire. "I was trying to hold [the fire] back until the fire department came," said the soft-spoken, yet intense Montana native. "I was surprised that I was able to put it out." Soon, the Livingston Fire Department arrived on scene and saw Stallard, garden hose in hand, standing in front of the smoke-blackened house. According to a report by the Livingston Enterprise, Fire Chief Jim Mastin said Stallard's experience played a key role in extinguishing the fire. "Someone that has his training and experience could do quite a bit with a garden hose," Mastin said in the report. "He (Stallard) did an exceptional job." After a brief conversation with the fire chief, Stallard hurried back to his parent's house to finish his farewells. He made it to his bus just in the nick of time. "I still smelled like smoke," he remembers. One week later, Stallard, a former civilian fire fighter and Emergency Medical Technician, landed aboard Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. Here, he is a Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron aircraft rescue fire fighter, and carries a strong passion for his work. "I love learning," said Stallard. "I consider myself a lifelong student. Whatever task I'm assigned, my goals are to master it and learn to teach others. "I have my work cut out for me here," he added. "I've got to learn everything there is to learn about aircraft rescue fire fighting." Stallard, a former pre-med student disillusioned by his experience with the politics of the civilian medical field, joined the Marine Corps early in December of 2003. "Volunteer fire fighting, along with two years of service in AmeriCorps, helped me developed a strong ethic of service to my country," noted Stallard. "I decided that if I was going to join the military, I wanted to be part of the elite – so I joined the Marine Corps." Stallard said he was also drawn to the Marine Corps because of the strong bond he observed between retired Marines in the civilian fire fighting sector. "They have a really tight brotherhood, and that was attractive to me," he said. Stallard is grateful for the training provided him by the Marine Corps. "The military training definitely gives me an edge," he said. "If I chose not to reenlist at the end of my contract, my training will have put me so far ahead of the civilian competition that it's not even funny." However, until Stallard, who reached his year-mark with the Corps Dec. 8, reaches the end of his contract, he'll remain enthusiastic about his job. "Fire fighting is a unique career," said Stallard. "You get to do things no one else gets to do, and responding to calls is such an adrenaline rush.

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