Nov. 23 -- Gavin McMenama was having a bad day at his job just before Christmas when he checked his mail and discovered a thick package from the Lexington Fire Department.
This wasn’t the type of package he was accustomed to seeing. After receiving rejection paperwork 13 times from the fire department, he was all too familiar with that sort of letter.
That 2001 package he received, which instantly turned around a rough day, was his golden ticket to a job he had coveted since he was 9 years old. Gavin McMenama, born and raised in Lexington, had finally been accepted into the Lexington Fire Department.
McMenama’s determination — rare then and now — to be a Lexington firefighter despite rejection 13 of 14 times offers a lesson about never giving up as he’s pursuing a promotion to lieutenant nearly 17 years later.
“It tells you a lot about his heart and the kind of person he is to apply that many times,” said Lt. Rich Berry with whom McMenama has worked with since 2004. “It’s not an easy job. For someone to want to do it that much, it tells you a lot about his character and his fortitude that he would continue to work on that and keep trying to get the job.”
Currently, the department has an authorized strength of 597 firefighters and it graduates one or two classes of at least 25 recruits each year, according to Lt. Jessica Bowman.
It’s an “anomaly” for an individual to apply as many times as McMenama did, Bowman said.
McMenama was 39 years old in February 2002 when he began the academy, a rigorous 24-week program that includes required coursework and training. Now, the fire department doesn’t hire people older than 34.
He had good relationships with his fellow recruits and embraced his nickname of “Papaw.”
“Nobody could beat Papaw to the top of the training tower though,” he insists.
McMenama’s firefighting dream grew more serious after Valentine’s Day in 1976. When he was 14 years old, a fire broke out in his bedroom of his family’s apartment while he was asleep on the living room couch. As young Gavin watched the firefighters contain the flames to the apartment, Gavin felt it was his responsibility to let his mom – then in the hospital because of blood clots in her leg – know of the fire.
“I told her, ‘One day, I don’t know how I’m going to do this, but I’m going to make this right,’” he told his mother. “That’s really what started igniting it. It was a calling for me to be a fireman.”
But getting there was more of a challenge than expected. He began applying in 1988. The first few years he did not pass the written test, and later, he passed the written test but was passed over when the fire department selected its recruiting classes.
Because the fire department employment process consumed about a year from written test to physical test to oral examination to health examination and background check, McMenama stuck with his job for a food and drug wholesale distributing company and, later, as a part-time EMT in 1993.
Meanwhile, he befriended members of the fire department and asked them questions. He also kept working on his strength and staying in shape so if the fire department called, he’d be ready.
Eventually, McMenama was on first-name basis with workers in the hiring department.
“I could call down and they didn’t even have to hear my name, they would know who I am by my voice,” he said.
Capt. Carrie Wilburn, who does background work for the hiring process, said it’s not uncommon for people to apply multiple times. Three or four times is routine, she said, but never repeatedly year after year like McMenama did.
“It was just my strong background and the work ethic my family distilled in me, my morals and values,” he said. “You don’t give up. It’s what I wanted to do.”
McMenama said he is one of just a handful of people in their 50s in the fire department who still ride on fire trucks. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m proud to be in that situation. I wouldn’t do anything different,” he said.
He is assigned to Station 22 on Clearwater Way under Lt. Berry.
While a member of the fire department, McMenama also completed paramedic school, which is an eight-month program at the fire department that often takes two years at a university, Berry said.
“In that eight months, riding an ambulance, going to class, doing clinicals … you’re missing a lot sleep because you may be on an ambulance that rides all night long,” Berry said. “It tells you a whole lot for someone to take that opportunity to go to paramedic school and work hard enough to pass and ride an ambulance for a lot of years.”
Having now worked at the department longer than he pursued the job, his passion for it hasn’t diminished. He calls it the best job in the world.
“Coming here, being with these men and women doing the job we do, helping out the community and especially it being my hometown community … it’s really awesome. It’s a fantastic responsibility,” he said. “I didn’t run from it. I grabbed the bull by the horns and I loved the responsibility.”
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