Lon Gordon was in his first week as a volunteer firefighter when he knew it was what he wanted to do.

Gordon, now a 14-year veteran of the Clark County Fire Department, said he responded to a fatal tractor-trailer crash in his native Daviess County when the chief sent him with rescue tools to extricate the driver. Once he removed the driver, they sent Gordon back to retrieve the driver’s wallet.

“It was open to a picture of him and his two girls,” Gordon said. “That really stuck with me. If I can help save a life or bring someone home to a loved one, that’s what I want to do.”

Gordon spent five years as a member of Utica Volunteer Fire Department near Owensboro before life changes brought him to central Kentucky and out of firefighting. The desire, though, never left.

“It was more a part of me than I realized,” he said. “When I moved here, I said I wanted to get back in the fire service.”

Gordon said he met former Clark County Fire Chief Mac McGrevey on the scene of a brush fire on Pine Grove Road and started talking to him about joining the department.

“He drove to Owensboro and talked to my former chief,” Gordon said. “I came down and put my application and became a part-time firefighter.”

Eventually, a full-time position opened, and Gordon took it and hadn’t looked back.

“I love this place,” he said. “The brotherhood and serving your community. From firefighting to EMS to special ops, I love it all. It’s where I need to be.

“I went from making $31 an hour as a licensed plumber to $6.75 an hour here. I let my licenses go.”

A self-described adrenaline junkie, Gordon is focused on special operations within the department including rope rescue, swift water rescue and trench rescue. It’s an area of firefighting which has expanded during his time in Clark County.

“Whenever I got on here, all they did was fires and a little EMS,” he said. “The fire service has evolved … It doesn’t matter if it’s a cat on a roof or a horse in a pond, we have to respond.”

Special operations, including the training, carries a different risk and mindset than regular firefighting, he said.

“It’s physically demanding,” he said. “It takes a lot of common sense to be able to take everything you know when you have a bad situation and make it work with little equipment. The more calls came in, the more we knew we were way behind.”

Through the years, the department has added to its equipment for specialized rescues and has trained and trained and trained. Gordon is one of three certified instructors at the department who can teach other firefighters.

“We’ve taken it beyond what anyone thought,” Gordon said. “Now we teach surrounding counties multiple disciplines. We’ve saved people’s lives with trench rescue. We’ve saved animals’ lives. We’ve saved people (with) rope rescue.”

There have been many opportunities to use those skills recently, including a couple of animal rescues already this year in Clark County.

The department is Gordon’s life and his passion.

“I’m here at least an hour every day off,” he said. “Some days I’m down here all day. I’ve got plenty I could be doing. This place comes before my family. They are my family.

“We want to do more. We want to be known for special rescue, and I’m proud of it.”