A handful of words often come to mind when most people think of the fire service.
Bravery, duty, compassion and sacrifice are among the most common, but the one that stands above all others for one Detroit-area family is dedication.
One family has shown more dedication to the Detroit Fire Department over the last century than many could imagine. A clan that played a role in forming the city's firefighter union. One that experienced the highs of a post-World War II industrial boom that earned the city its Motor City nickname. A bloodline that battled through the lows of a decimated urban landscape that gave birth to the firefighter hell of "Devil's Night."
And now with the entry of its newest and youngest members, this brave yet humble family will bear witness as a proud city begins rising from the ashes of bankruptcy and fire that nearly destroyed it.
"I can say I'm the granddaughter, the daughter, the wife, the mother and now the grandmother of firefighters, so it's pretty cool," matriarch Carolyn Wilson warmly said from her home in Florida during several recent family interviews with Firehouse.com.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we need to take a quick trip back to a time when the fire apparatus arriving to help save your home wasn't brought there by the horsepower of a Mack or Pierce engine, but rather by an actual horse.
The year was 1917—five years before the Detroit Fire Department retired the last of its horse-drawn steam pumpers—when Emil C. Doll began his firefighting career and a century-long journey for his family. Emil would go on to achieve the rank of lieutenant, was instrumental in the formation of IAFF Local 344 in 1933, and was even appointed the union's first vice president.
Emil's career ended in 1942 and he died in 1954, but before his passing he witnessed his son John E. Doll join the fire department in 1946. John, who served in World World II under Gen. George S. Patton, followed in his father's footsteps by earning his lieutenant's badge before hanging up his helmet in 1971.
"My dad always said, 'It's a good job. It was a good job raising you kids on it,'" Carolyn said.
John passed on in 2000 and didn't have any sons of his own, fathering Carolyn and her sister Diane. Since we're talking about an era when a woman becoming a firefighter was completely unfathomable—the Detroit department didn't hire its first female firefighter until 1978—there was a pretty good chance the family's firefighting days could have ended there.
"I know my dad never would have thought for a minute with having two daughters that he would have ended up with this long history of firefighters," Carolyn said.
But then Carolyn fell in love with a man named Harry M. Wilson, who joined the Detroit Fire Department two years after they married in 1967. During a long career that earned him the rank of captain and lasted until 2002, Harry saw some of the worst years for the department, including some nightmarish Devils's Nights in the 1980s when hundreds of arson fires would erupt around the city.
"When I was on, it was at its worst," Harry said. "We would go out at 4 o'clock and we never came back in. And we were showing up on the scene with only one apparatus. And they were sending ladder trucks to fully engulfed dwellings. It's a ladder, so you have no water, you have nothing you can do. You're just there to report what's burning. It was horrible."
Amid those treacherous years for Detroit's firefighters, Harry and Carolyn were raising five children together, and all four of their boys—Pat, Tim, Bryan and Michael—became firefighters in the city.
"I came in as the daughter of a fireman, so I was kind of used to the whole gig," Carolyn said. "When you're the child of a firefighter, your dad just goes to work and you don't really know what's going on. But when you're a wife or a mother, it's so different."
Their eldest son Pat has become a lieutenant after joining the department in 1989, while Tim has moved up to sergeant since joining in 1992. Bryan got his badge in 1997 and is still an active firefighter, but Michael's 16-year career came to an end when he left the department in 2016 to pursue his love of acting.
"You have to want to do this job," Tim said. "You're going to be put in situations that are very difficult, so you have to be sure you want to do this."
That's the advice Tim says he gave his two eldest sons—24-year-old Austin and 22-year-old Evan—who bring us to the fifth generation for this firefighting family.
"I've already had my first fires with my boys," Tim said. "I'm an officer and I have my crews that I'm in charge of and I'm always concerned about my men, but I have to tell you, it was a little bit different watching Austin go into a burning building. I wanted to be right on his back, and I didn't see that coming."
Austin and Evan both joined the department in 2017—exactly 100 years after their great-great-grandfather first took the oath to serve and protect his community. Austin's probationary year will end on Jan. 9, making the fifth generation distinction official, while Evan's probationary year will end on July 10.
"I'm working with a lot of guys I grew up with," Austin said. "They all know me from my dad. I feel like I'm in a good spot. It's still early in my career, but I'm dedicated and I want to stay in it."
While Austin says he wanted his younger brother to come to his own decision, Evan admits that seeing his brother enter the academy and enjoy what he was doing had a big effect on him.
"I was in college and I wasn't planning on being a firefighter," Evan said, "but then listening to my brother talking when he was in the academy, it seemed exciting and I wanted to do it.
"My very first fire, my brother was there and that was a really cool experience."
As much as there was parental pride in their decisions to follow in the footsteps of so many relatives, their mother Katy admits it took her some time to come to terms with it.
"I did not anticipate my boys being on the job and it kind of took me a bit after all the excitement wore off," Katy said. "It's very different to have your husband do it and then to have your children do it. But just seeing how happy they are. I can see it in their eyes that this was meant to be for them.
"Obviously there are sleepless nights, but I know my husband is very good at what he does, so that's what brings me comfort."
The family tradition doesn't even end with Austin and Evan because Harry's only daughter Katie also married a Detroit firefighter, Kristopher Fornash, who has been with the department since 2004.
The word dedication has already been mentioned as we take stock of what we have here: One fire department, five generations and 10 firefighters over a span of 100 years.
Katy put it best when asked if she got any advice from her mother-in-law Carolyn on how to handle being married to a firefighter and then watching your sons dedicate themselves to the fire service.
"I said to her, 'I don't know how you did it.' But I think she feels the same way I do. You have to just leave it in God's hands and hope that he's watching."
As far as the chances that this family may wind up with a sixth generation of firefighters, obviously only time will tell, but Harry says he wouldn't be surprised.
"I'd say it's definitely possible with the city coming back the way it is," he said. "It's great to see."
