Kingsport Firefighter Follows In Father’s Footsteps

Bill Donoho has been working for the City of Kingsport for 27 years. Donoho is a fireman, engineer, and paramedic. At a young age, Donoho was inspired to become a firefighter by his father, who helped start the first responder program in the state of Tennessee. Donoho got involved with the medical side, started taking fire training classes, and fell in love with the job.

Donoho risks his safety every day, but still has a strong love for his job. “My favorite part of the job is to be able to help people in need,” stated Donoho in a recent interview.  While the scariest part, according to him, is most obviously going into a fire, but maybe not for the obvious reason. He described going into an active fire as nerve-racking because “you never know what is going to happen, you don’t know what’s there. Most of the time it’s like running in with blinders on. You never know what you’re going to run into.” Donoho states he’s had many close calls while on the job, and has even fallen through floorboards and had debris fall on top of him. Donoho, however, just considers this all part of his job, and easily accepts these risks every day that he goes to work.

While he enjoys his work, certain parts are harder than others. Donoho describes the toughest part of his job as the physical and mental fitness required to deal with the job itself. Firemen need to maintain their physical fitness to be able to do their job, but according to Donoho, the mental fitness aspect is even harder. He stated that, for many, the job doesn’t stop when they leave the station; many firefighters take the job home with them. Being a fireman requires not just physical strength, but mental strength as well.

Bill Donoho is a firefighter, engineer, and paramedic for the City of Kingsport, and he is a true hero within his community. Donoho works hard both on and off the clock to help make Kingsport a better, safer place. He not only values his job, but believes in the difference he is making to improve his community and to help those in need.