Dave Gallagher began his fire service career when he listened to his Dad’s fire stories and stories about his grandfather who served in the days of the horses. He joined his local volunteer fire department in 1976 as a FF/PM after spending two years as a founding member of a Fire/Rescue Explorer Post in Montgomery County Ohio.
Soon after he was hired by the Fairborn, Ohio FD, where he spent a year, but then was hired by the Wayne Twp FD in 1979, which became the Huber Heights Fire Division. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1982, and during his time there served as a HazMat Technician and Training Officer.
His journey also saw him brought on as an instructor and advisory board member to FDIC and instructor for Firehouse Magazine in the mid-nineties. He traveled the country with some of the biggest names of the Fire Service and learned tremendously in their presence and has done his best to pass the lessons along.
In 2004 he was retired due to LODI, but continued to instruct with On Scene Training Associates and several other groups including working with Affordable Drill Towers. He moved to just outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, and began working at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in 2014. He also joined one of the elite firefighting training groups, the New England FOOLs chapter, where he is a Life Member, and had the honor to be an instructor for the Joey D Foundation conferences in NY and TX.
In 2020 he and his wife Sue moved to St Lucie County in Florida where he also helped out at several of the Treasure Coast FOOLs trainings.
He has been a featured speaker on podcasts and has written articles for Fire Service magazines.
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Interview Transcript: Click Here