GRETNA, Va. (WDBJ) – Jesse Yeatts has been a firefighter with Gretna Fire and EMS since the early 1970s.
50 years later, he has run around 20,000 calls during his career, saving countless lives along the way.
“It’s something I enjoy doing,” said Jesse Yeatts, Gretna Fire & EMS Firefighter. “Helping people out, saving property and stuff like that means the world.”
It also means the world to all three of his daughters who followed in his footsteps.
“I was six years old when he joined,” said Sharon Yeatts, Jesse’s Daughter and Gretna Fire & Rescue EMT. “So, that’s how long he’s been doing it and I’ve been watching him do it.”
“When my son turned three, he would say, I want to fight fire like Paw Paw. So, he’s inspired a whole bunch,” added Sharon Yeatts.
At 82 years young, he’s still fighting fires.
If you ask him if he has any plans to retire soon,
“No. I enjoy being around them. I told them years ago, if I didn’t enjoy it, I’d be done quit,” said Yeatts.
His daughters feel the same way.
“I hope not. I enjoy running calls with him now just as well as I did then. I just enjoy seeing him come out and still doing what he loves doing all these years,” said Sharon Yeatts.
“He just doesn’t like to sit still,” said Phyllis Mayhew, Jesse’s Daughter and Gretna Fire & Rescue member. “So yes, it keeps him very active. I do worry about him, but I know what he wants to do. So, I try to go along with it.”
Jesse has received numerous awards like Firefighter of the Year five times.
He’s held almost all ranks in the Fire Department up to Assistant Chief, and was Captain of the Rescue Squad for two years.
But when he’s not out running calls and fighting fires, he’s typically working on his favorite 51 Ford truck that he still drives today.
“I restored that truck back in the mid 70s. It’s all original. We bought all kind of new trucks, and this is what they call one of the old favorites. It’s an antique, but it’s a good old truck. It runs good,” explained Yeatts.
If you include his cousins, a third of the 80 members are related to Jesse and were influenced by him in some way.
“He is loved by everybody in this community, everybody that knows him. They have nothing but good things to say about him,” added Mayhew.
Jesse says he’s proud of the growth the department has seen over his time there, and hopes those after him continue his efforts to encourage younger generations to help others.
“We’ve had a lot of people interested, and we have a lot of people that have done real good with it. You will have goers and comers as you go along, but just try to encourage them to help a neighbor as much as they can,” said Yeatts.
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