Cocoa Beach, Florida firefighters, May 1972

As part of my college ‘Photographic Documentation’ classes at Hydrospace Technical Institute (a mouthful), I decided to join the Cocoa Beach Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter trainee in the Spring of 1972. The highly trained professionals at the station agreed to train me and allowed me to document their activities for my class. Since Cocoa Beach is so close to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, the firefighters at Cocoa Beach had access to better personal gear (Lexan helmets and other high tech safety equipment) than other departments that were not expected to respond to a rocket related mishap. I hope to post a series of images over the next few weeks as more will be discovered in my archives. I’m sorry to say that I do not have the names of the brave firefighters I have pictured. I will be sharing my images with the current personnel of the Cocoa Beach Fire Department via their Chief.

My favorite truck. 1970 Chevrolet 4×4 Suburban Rescue Unit. Way cool!

Me and my favorite truck!

Camera:  Yashica TL Electro-X

Lens:  Auto Yashinon 50mm f1.7

Film:  Kodak Plus X Pan

Processing:  Self processing

Scanner:  Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II

From a collection of recently ‘found’ negatives from 1972.

Many thanks to the personnel of the Cocoa Beach Fire Department for their expert training and friendly advice. They took the more than a few of us college kids in and it was a great experience for all. When I went on to join the U.S. Navy in 1975, I put my background in firefighting to good use aboard the three aircraft carriers that I served aboard.