Firefighting wasn’t either of their original plans, but this father-daughter duo have been fighting fires for years and recently had the chance to fight one together.

That fire was the last fire Jeff Adams, former captain of Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety, got to fight because he retired not long after at the age of 62.

His daughter, Erin Rhead, 34, is an engineer at Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority in Kent.

Jeff said he had been a firefighter for 25 years.

“Well I always say it, it was never even on my radar. I grew up in a very rural area and never really had any exposure to firefighters,” Jeff said. “So at my previous job I delivered building materials and I kept running into people that were firefighters, and eventually I knew a guy that I went to church with that got hired (as a firefighter) and I thought ‘hmm.’ I like to say that the fire service found me.”

Erin said she got started as a firefighter in a different way than she would have thought.

“My dad was a firefighter, but I never really thought of it as an option for myself, ever, even though I remember when he went through academy and became a firefighter,” Erin said. “I went to school and I studied graphic design and when I got out, I got into a job in graphic design and I was miserable, I hated it. So I was actually talking to my mom one day and telling her what I wanted and what I wasn’t liking about my job and she said ‘Hey, you should be a firefighter.’ So I always thought it was funny even though my dad’s a firefighter, my mom is the one who got me into the job.”

When Erin decided to be a firefighter, both Erin’s mom, Connie Adams, and Erin agreed that it took some convincing to get Jeff on board with his daughter being a firefighter, but eventually he went along with it.

“I think you were a little hesitant at first,” Erin said to her dad during the interview, laughing. “I think we had to sell it to you first.”

“Well it was a little surprising,” Jeff said.

He started helping her prepare herself to be a firefighter, even though Jeff said he didn’t do a whole lot to help.

To help Erin get started in her firefighting career, he had her chop wood and drag dummies around to get a feel of what she would be doing on the field.

Since becoming a firefighter years ago, Erin and Jeff have never fought a fire together, that is until Jan. 20, 2018.

Both Maple Valley and Puget Sound Fire were called to the fire.

“I was working a debit day, a day I wasn’t normally supposed to be working, at a station that I don’t normally work at and we had been joking at the station ‘Oh we’ll have to get a fire today to be able to see my dad on his last day at work,’” Erin said. “So when we got that call that night I was like ‘Oh he’s going to be at this fire,’ and as we were walking in the backside (of the burning building) I could see him.”

Jeff on the other hand had no idea Erin was at the same fire he was at.

“Well I didn’t even know she was there, I guess, it was kind of neat actually. Somebody said ‘Erin is here,’ and I was like ‘Where is she?’ But she had seen me in the house (that was on fire) and I didn’t even know she was there,” Jeff said. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

According to Erin, her dad’s coworkers were just as excited as he was to be able to fight his last fire with Erin.

“It was a good way to close (his) career, (it was) very memorable,” Connie said. “I think that was nice that he got to do that before he retired.”

For all the years both Jeff and Erin have been working for neighboring fire departments, they have had the same shifts. However, they both agreed it was kind of weird this was their first call together.

Erin and Jeff said they love firefighting for the partnerships with their coworkers.

“I think the camaraderie and the brotherhood, and the sisterhood of the job. I work at a station with seven different people and I don’t know there’s a camaraderie there that you don’t get with a lot of other jobs,” Erin said.

Jeff went on to respond with, “I would agree with that too. You do make a difference in people’s lives. A lot of times they’re in a helpless situation and they call 911 and we show up and can help them, whatever it is.”

As a wife of a firefighter, Connie said from the beginning of her husbands career, she has had the same mindset.

“I think early on with my husband, I just made the decision that until someone in uniform was knocking on the door, I wouldn’t worry about him,” Connie said.

Once her daughter became a firefighter, Connie said it was a little different.

“It’s actually a little harder with your daughter because you’re the mom. Even some of the stories she has told us, I think that’s my daughter at that crisis. I’m proud of her because I think she does an excellent job,” Connie said.

Connie went onto say she thinks her husband and daughter were meant to fight that fire together.

“I was just so happy because it was his last fire. And I knew if he could have said ‘This is what I wanted to do on my last fire…’ This is what it would have been,” she said. “For me I was just so thankful. I believe in God and I think God kind of arranged it as a retirement present or something because it was just a very memorable moment.”