GALAX, Va. – The Galax Fire Department is making a difference for a local teenager.
Tyson Ford, who has Down syndrome, celebrated his birthday by living out his dream of becoming a firefighter for a day.
He recently geared up and jumped into the fire truck to respond to a fire at the department's training facility.
The 16-year-old crawled on the floor to avoid the rising smoke and learned how to use the fire hose and a thermal imaging camera.
Firefighters developed a close relationship with Tyson's family through a weekly workout program, according to the department.
Tyson's Best Day EveeeeeerBEST DAY EVEEEER!! Meet Tyson Ford, Tyson Ford is the son of Steven and Kyla Ford. Tyson loves football, antique cars, and firetrucks. Tyson also has Downs Syndrome. Steven and Kyla have been backbone of our Workout Wednesdays ever since they volunteered to be our “trainers” several months ago. Over the course of the past few months of exercising with them, we, as a department, have grown close to the entire Ford family. Including our buddy, Tyson. Tyson’s Sweet 16 was on October 24th, and all he wanted was to be a firefighter. So Tyson got to live out his dream for the day, and be an actual firefighter. Check out Tyson’s “Best Day Ever” and the story that brought us all together -- We also want to thank Eugene McCurdy and Austin Pinckney with Visual Eyes 360 for producing Tyson's "movie" so that he could remember this day forever! Note: The lights and sirens were only used on the driveway to our training grounds and the smoke in the building was produced by our smoke machine. Live fire was set by a firefighter after everyone was out and fire was extinguished from outside the training building.
Posted by Galax Fire Department on Monday, December 4, 2017