On a Saturday morning, the bell sounded at the Milan Fire Station, as it does every time a call comes in. Two firefighters on shift raced to the firetruck to check on a local residence, and then minutes later, Dan and Kim Carpus were headed out of the station to respond to a second call.

A Call to Serve

“When the call comes in,” said Kim Carpus, who has been responding to calls for 20-years at the Milan Fire Station, “You’ve got to go.”

Her husband, Dan Carpus, has been responding for nearly 25 years for Milan, following 17 years as a firefighter in New York – making more than six decades of service between them. Dan Carpus was recently named Milan’s 2024 Firefighter of the Year, while Kim was recognized for hitting a major milestone.

“They’re both very involved with the department on the fire department side and with the association side,” Fire Chief Bob Stevens said. “Dan is really the go-to guy with radio issues and equipment issues.” He added that Kim does a lot of medical.

A Family Tradition in Firefighting

Stevens said at the moment the Carpuses are the only couple serving as firefighters in Milan. Like many of the firefighters there they also have other family members in the service. Their oldest son DJ serves as Milan’s assistant fire chief and another of their four sons, Doug, previously worked in Milan Fire Department, but now is a career firefighter with the Ypsilanti City Fire Department.

“We didn’t see that one coming,” Dan Carpus recalls, adding that his son always wanted to dress up as a firefighter for Halloween, but said he didn’t want to be a firefighter.

Kim Carpus said she long wanted to become a firefighter, but the time wasn’t right until her oldest was 16 so he could handle the kids if she was on call. Growing up around many firefighters she said it was natural to desire to serve in that way.

“I absolutely love it,” Kim Carpus said.

Kim Carpus and Dan Carpus’s fathers were both firefighters for different fire stations in Amhurst, New York, outside of Buffalo. So were Kim Carpus’s uncle, aunt, and cousins and her sister currently serves as a firefighter there. However, their dads didn’t know each other when they were growing up and the two didn’t officially meet until they were 17, through a mutual friend Dan met attending the first Medical First Responder class offered in Erie County, New York. They were married when they were 18.

“We’ve been together ever since,” Kim Carpus said.

Dan Carpus started working as a firefighter in his teens, alongside his father who was assistant chief. His brother and his brother-in-law were firefighters and one of his sisters still serves as a firefighter.

Roles and Responsibilities

“In New York you can get in at the age of 16, but you’re somewhat limited — You couldn’t drive one of the trucks, couldn’t go into or climb on a burning building,” Dan Carpus said. However, he said that he could do emergency medical services, work on car crashes, help with cleanup, use a fire hose on scene without going into the structure. By the time he was 18 he could do everything.

Kim Carpus said that she used to do everything, but now does more medical responses, car accidents, and odor investigations. She also helps with the nonprofit aspect of the fire department, hosting community events. She has been a popular face at Paddock Elementary where she’s done many school visits teaching about fire hazards, evacuation procedures and calling 911, educating the kids whom Paddock Elementary School Principal Sean DeSarbo said “are thrilled to be able to meet real life heroes that care for them in their community.”

Dan Carpus serves as an apparatus driver, which means he drives the fire engine and also has the skill to operate all devices on the truck. He also works as a pump operator, which requires much attention to detail and knowledge to make sure they have the water they need for an emergency. Most trucks carry roughly 1,000 gallons of water, which they can go through in a matter of minutes and it’s important to make sure everything goes smoothly.

“We have one truck that’s a 3,000 gallon tanker, which for rural calls is the second truck out there,” Carpus said.

Previously, he worked the nozzle putting out fires, but says that’s “a young man’s game.”

As a Motorola professional, Dan is the expert for handling radio issues and installations in fire trucks, ensuring communications systems are always ready and reliable. 

The Challenges of Firefighting

Stevens said becoming a firefighter is no easy task.

“It takes a lot of hours to get through the Firefighter 1 and 2 programs and Academy and we also have to have an EMT license, which between the two takes about a year out of your life,” Stevens said. “Then there’s continuing training that never ends.”

Stevens said back in the 1800s when the Milan Fire Department originated it was a volunteer fire department. Now the firefighters are paid on call. Three years ago, they went to part-time staff, with firefighters having the opportunity to sign up to make sure they are staffed from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. Most firefighters also have other jobs.

A Community of Heroes

At the station, the Carpuses joked around with the others there on call. One man’s father was there to visit. Jerry Straits, retired from the fire department, was back to visit.

“It’s a close-knit group,” said Straits, who previously served in many roles, including fire chief. “If you need anything they help you out. I can’t get away from it – you try to get away and you come back because of the way they treat you.”

When asked to describe the Carpuses he had two words:  “Good people. I’ve worked with them close to 20 years.”

Greg Brierly, a retired Ypsilanti firefighter, firefighter at Milan, and a fire chief up north, said that’s the way it is with the people serving at the Milan Fire Department.

“In all honesty, God put people on the earth and a few select he made firefighters” Brierly said.