Brandon Twp.-Mike Faust recalls his first call as a Brandon firefighter.
‘It was 1972 and I just happened to stop by the fire hall,? said Faust. ‘They asked me if I could drive that truck out to a barn fire near Seymour Lake and Dartmouth roads. Rumor was the truck had bad brakes, but I went anyway. They were right, got to the corner of M-15 and South Street with about 1,000 gallons of water on and I could not stop. Just turned the siren on and went for it’I made it. When I arrive at the barn fire I said, ‘Here’s your truck’I’m not driving anymore.??
Faust survived his first days as a firefighter and continued to serve the community for more 43 years before announcing his retirement earlier this year.
‘It’s been a pleasure serving the community all these years,? he said. ‘It’s been a great place to live and a wonderful place to work.?
An Ortonville native and 1972 Brandon High School graduate, Faust joined the department in April that same year as a paid on-call firefighter. For the next eight years he worked for a manufacturing company in Holly. He became a full-time firefighter in April 1981.
‘I was tired of working in the shop,? he said. ‘I always enjoyed this community and as a firefighter no two days are ever the same. A lot has changed over 43 years’the best are the air packs we all have now. When I started we crawled around on our hands and knees through fires looking for victims’then we’d come out gagging and spitting black stuff out of our lungs.?
Faust, who became a captain in 2000, said last year the department made 1,200 runs compared to maybe 150-200 when he started.
‘The traffic on M-15 is really heavy today, we now make medical calls and the mobile home community in the south part of the township really keeps us running now,? he said.
Faust recalls a barn fire at Scott Farms on Ramsey Road.
‘The hay in the top of the barn was on fire and the pigs were under the loft,? he said. ‘We learned real quick you can’t herd pigs no matter how hard you try. So we picked up the little piglets while the bigger hogs we had to grab them by the back legs and walk them out like a wheelbarrow. I like bacon, but not pigs.?
As an emergency medical technician, Faust delivered three babies during his career.
‘We had a new mom come to the fire station on South Street during a village festival and have a baby. Another baby I got to her house and she gave birth right there while another one I delivered in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. They all were healthy babies. ?
Faust still remembers house fires.
‘Sometimes you’d get to the house fire and the family is just standing outside saying, ‘We’ve lost everything we own,?? he said. ‘You do what you can to comfort them and help them find a place to stay the night. It’s a very difficult part of the job.?
Death, too, was part of Faust’s career.
‘When I got to the accident site, a 5-year-old boy had been hit and killed by a dump truck,? he said. ‘And the truck had left the scene, too. What made it even worse was I had a 5-year-old, too, at home. I will just never forget that day.?
Over 43 years Faust worked with four fire chiefs and also worked with his father.
‘My dad, Kenneth Faust, joined the Ortonville Fire Department in 1954 and served as paid on-call for 27 years,? he said. ‘We sometime fought fires together including the Oxford Theater fire, and the Ortonville Hotel fire.?
In retirement, Mike, along with wife Vickie, will spend time traveling and at the second home in Lewiston, Mich. ‘I’m not going to miss getting called out on Christmas or Thanksgiving,? he said. ‘I not sure how many times Vickie had to keep dinner warm until I came home. I’m proud to say that when I became captain I made a vow that everyone comes home after a fire. And they have.?
Mike and Vickie Faust have four children, Kelly, Michael II, Melinda, and Darrin, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.