LAKEVILLE, Mass. — The firehouse is a home away from home for the O’Brien family of Lakeville. “I hope I didn’t brainwash them. I hope I gave them a chance to do something else, but I’m not so sure that’s the case,” said Lakeville Fire Chief Mike O’Brien.
Answering the call to fight fires and save lives is in the O’Brien’s DNA. They are fourth-generation firefighters. Chief O’Brien’s two sons are also firefighters, just like his father and grandfather before him.
23-year-old Aiden is an East Providence, Rhode Island firefighter and 21-year-old Nolan became a Warwick, Rhode Island firefighter on January 14th. “It was a good pay-off for all those years that they spent getting me to school back and forth and putting me through school and supporting me through the academy,” Nolan said.
Chief O’Brien pinned Nolan’s badge, officially appointing him into the brotherhood. The ceremony came exactly 9 years to the day when Nolan had the honor of pinning his father as deputy chief in Portsmouth. So in a way, it’s come full circle. “You have your sons always watching you, you’re modeling your behavior and they see that you’re so proud to what you do and you get such a sense of accomplishment from it,” Chief O’Brien said. Nolan added, “I truly believe my dad, my brother, they’re all good firefighters. My great-grandfather and my grandfather they were probably good firefighters, so I just want to keep on scrolling and developing my skills, loving the job and continuing my career further and getting good at it.”
Just like generations of O’Brien firefighters before him. Nolan is a probationary firefighter for one year. Next January he will become a permanent firefighter.
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