After nearly 25 years as a Montana firefighter, Capt. Terry O'Toole retired from the Billings Fire Department last week, and he was able to mark that final shift with his son, a fellow firefighter.
"We both love it. We both loved our time here," Andrew O'Toole told KTVQ-TV about the bittersweet occasion. "He’s probably not quite ready to leave, I don’t think I will be when it’s my time to leave. Most guys usually aren’t."
Terry O'Toole became a Billings firefighter on Sept. 25, 1995, just 10 days after Andrew was born. Since then, firefighting has been a strong connection between father and son, and the two were given special permission to work together one last time Tuesday.
"Time that stands out most is probably when Andrew got hired," Terry O’Toole said. "That was pretty cool."
The shift went smoothly and quietly for both men, a trend the elder O'Toole hopes extends into his retirement.
“It’s going to be nice to look forward to some weekends off, for starters, and maybe a decent night’s sleep for a while," he told KTVQ.
