When the unimaginable happens, we look to our first responders to be there with kindness, compassion and practiced hands.
Too often, we meet them on the worst days of our lives, but in those terrible moments, they offer help and hope.
As far back as he can remember, Jake Trujillo wanted to be one of those people. More specifically, he wanted to be a police officer because he believed he could do the most good in the law enforcement field. But life has a funny way of showing us our destinies.
"I just think I have more to offer this world than just being a taker. I want to be a giver," said Jake. "I want to be a good steward to those who have provided for me; I want to provide back. The world needs more people who give more and take less."
While he was a student at the police academy in Colorado, Jake was introduced to the exciting world of wildland firefighting. As a member of a special response unit, he found himself hiking through the Rocky Mountains to perform river rescues and fight wildfires. It was through this work that Jake found his true calling: firefighting.
But no wildfire could compare to the challenges Jake would soon face in his personal life. Divorce put him in the unfamiliar position of being a single father raising two young children. “It redirected my life into survival mode,” he recalls. Fighting wildfires is dangerous and often requires unconventional working hours, so Jake realized his priorities had to change. He had to become a full-time dad, and that meant finding a job that allowed him to do that.
He packed up his family and moved to Oklahoma, where he began working for the Choctaw Nation in August of 2012. At the Choctaw Casino & Resort-Durant, Jake did a little bit of everything. He worked security for a little while, and he worked as a uniform manager, where he helped put the current uniform system in place. He was also part of the team that created The District, the resort’s family entertainment center, and he stayed on as manager for several years.
During his time away from firefighting, Jake felt pulled in opposite directions. He was prioritizing his family by working a “normal” nine-to-five job, but he missed the excitement of firefighting and the feeling he got by serving his community.
“You’ve got those people who like to go running and those people who like to go hiking, and I thrive on that feeling and that experience to get back to firefighting,” Jake said.
When Jake and his kids had been in Oklahoma for about five years, a neighbor approached him about joining the Calera Volunteer Fire Department. With his family established in the area and his children a little older, it seemed like a good time to return to the service he loved so much.
The Calera Volunteer Fire Department was a perfect fit for Jake. He brought his knowledge of fighting wildfires and performing rescues to the team, and they helped him learn how to fight structural fires and attend to victims of car accidents. This, and a lifetime love for learning, led Jake to seek certification as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
Learning new things and keeping up with current trends in the industry are particularly important to Jake.
“Everything that we do evolves, especially in today’s age with technology and what we can do versus what we could do twenty years ago,” he said. This is particularly true with car accidents involving electric and hybrid vehicles. The wiring and lithium batteries used in modern electric cars has required firefighters to rethink the way they perform rescues and put out vehicular fires.
“We have to learn how to overcome or adapt or learn those processes so we can protect ourselves while we’re trying to help somebody else,” said Jake. “You have to learn or technology will pass you right by, and you’ll end up someday not knowing how to do anything. You have to continue to educate yourself.”
Above all else, though, Jake believes in the importance of giving back and serving the community.
“As an emergency manager, I’m only there when bad things happen,” said Jake. But the good he does for others in those moments makes it worthwhile. “It’s a feeling of accomplishment. I was there in somebody else’s worst moment, and I was able to bring them just a little bit of peace and joy. Things will get better. You’re going to make it; you’re going to survive, and I’m going to be there to help you get there.”
One motto Jake lives by is, “Not all heroes wear capes.” That sentiment is something he is passing on to his own children, along with teaching them how to be givers in their community. The kids help out with special events and chores at the fire station.
Jake remembers taking his son to a grass fire, where the young boy watched from the truck as his father worked with a team to put out the flames. When the fire was extinguished, and he returned to the truck, he told his wide-eyed son, “Heroes are just regular people like you and me. They aren’t afraid to put themselves in a situation in order to help somebody else, and you are capable of doing this. Never think that you are weak or you’re afraid or that you can’t do something because anybody can do it, even your dad, and he’s an old guy!”
Eventually, Jake came to work for the Choctaw Nation’s Office of Emergency Management, where he has been since July of 2022.
“It is the most personally rewarding field you can get yourself into, but take it as personally rewarding and give it back out,” Jake said. “If it’s a field you are seriously thinking about getting into, know that it comes with pain, it comes with tears, but at the end of the day when you look at what you’ve been able to do and accomplish, it feels good. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
Fighting fires is only one of so many ways to help make the world better, and Jake wants to encourage everyone to volunteer and give back to their communities in any way they can.
"There's nothing more humbling than looking in somebody's eyes when you are serving them," Jake said. "Once you do it, you have a different perspective on life, and you become a better person."
