Meet Dan the firefighter.

Madison Lopez
Nov 4 · 2 min read
UNION CITY, NJ 11/3/2019: North Hudson Firefighter Dan Mckalaney, 26 .

Hudson country has a new local hero Dan Mckalan, 26. He became a fireman March 2019 and works for North Hudson regional Fire & Rescue department in Union City. Mckalan is the third-generation firefighter in his family. His grandfather was on the job and his father, and father’s cousin are currently on the job. Dan says it’s a “family legacy”. He tells us about his first fire experience and how helping lives has been one of the most greatest’s impacts in his life.

Mckalan says if he wasn’t a fireman, he would go back to school to get his teaching certificate. He has a passion for baseball and would love to be a coach for a team, he believes it would fit his schedule perfectly. Mckalan and the rest of the guys spend 72 hours on call at the fire house dorms, after 72 hours they have the whole week to themselves as other fireman take the following shifts during the week. After the interview he says there is never a day where they don’t get a call about something burning on the stove. They have approximately one minute to get dressed and leave the fire house when they get the announcement through the speaker. If there not out by that time they are asked why and an explanation by from the fire chief.

His first fire experience was in an attic in October. He describes it to be in adrenaline pumping rushing; cool experience something you can’t prepare for, but says the training pays off. He says it’s the best job in the world helping people and can’t see himself doing anything else..

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