So at 58, Warner Robins Assistant Fire Chief Lanny Frost is making a bittersweet transition - stepping off the back of the fire truck for the last time and into retirement.
Frost said his wife, Lola, a program director at the Warner Robins Recreation Department, is right, and he figures it's time to move over and let the younger firefighters come up through the ranks.
But after more than 36 years as a Warner Robins firefighter, including 19 as an assistant chief, it's hard to say goodbye.
"My father told me that once you get on one of them trucks, you never want to get off," said Frost, who was 21 when he joined the city's fire department. "And I still don't want to get off."
His father, A. E. Frost, was a firefighter in Valdosta before becoming a police officer for the Valdosta Police Department and later the Warner Robins Police Department, where he retired as a major.
When Lanny Frost finished a year of combat duty in Vietnam for the U.S. Army in December 1967, his father encouraged him to consider firefighting. But Frost first tried to return to sheet metal work as a civilian employee at Robins Air Force Base.
There were no job openings. So father and son went to see former Warner Robins Fire Chief Ernest Wood. "He hired me on the spot," Lanny Frost said.
And that day, Feb. 2, 1968, changed the course of his life forever. "There's nothing like being on the back of the truck and responding to a call," said Frost.
Of course, nowadays, firefighters cannot ride on the very back of the truck because of safety considerations, Frost said.
But back in the day, that's where a firefighter rode and there was no greater thrill than jumping on the back of a truck to get to a call and then leaping off to fight the fire, he said.
"It's the excitement - and the satisfaction that you've actually helped someone in need," Frost said.
And then there's the camaraderie that develops among firefighters, he said.
In a fire, there are no individuals - each firefighter's life depends on the actions of fellow firefighters, he said.
"We're like a family," he said.
Through the years, Frost has been recognized for various achievements, including a letter from former Mayor Foy Evans, who credited Frost with saving a man's life in November 1978. The man had a heart attack, and Frost administered CPR that saved the man's life.
But Frost took the applause in stride.
"It's our job to do that," he said. "We don't really expect anything, except maybe a pat on the back from our supervisor that we did a good job."
Firefighting also has changed through the years, with better equipment, gear and increased training. But some parts of the job never change, Frost said.
"We still get cats out of trees and respond to major fires," he said.
Fire Chief Robert Singletary said Frost was instrumental in shaping him as he progressed through the ranks to become chief.
What's made Frost a solid assistant chief is his ability to make quick decisions, remain calm in emergency situations and command a fire scene, Singletary said. Each of the three shifts has an assistant chief.
Frost was also Lt. Charlie Kitchens' first lieutenant when he started at the Warner Robins Fire Department some 23 years ago.
And Kitchens has served with
Frost for the past 10 years at the main fire station on Green Street.
"As far as a boss, he's very fair and quick to tell you when you've done a good job," said Kitchens. "But he'll jack you up when you need to be jacked up, and when you need compassion, he gives that also."
With military backgrounds, both serving in Vietnam, and sharing similar interests of hunting and fishing, Kitchens said he and Frost grew close.
"He's just a very likeable guy ... with really good morals," said Kitchens.
For Frost, it's the people he said he will miss the most. He'll say goodbye tonight at a retirement dinner at the Wellston Center. His retirement was effective July 17.
"It's been fun. It's been a learning experience the whole time. But it's time to step down," he said.
But retirement does have a silver lining.
After all, Frost said with a laugh, he can do "whatever I want to and when I want to."
