Parker Blackford

Current Experience & Employment

After school, I work for Blackout Graphics as an installer. As an installer, I instal wraps and decals onto vehicles and trailers. These could be logos or business details and more. I also make items like signs, banners, stickers and more. This job has taught me a lot about reliability and integrity. During the summers I also work for Horsefly Excavation as a laborer. My time at Horsefly Excavation has taught me about work ethic and communication

Career Q&A: Captain Ryan Sealock

1.Where do you work?

I work at Montrose Fire Protection District

2.What is your ranking?

I am a captain

3.What do you like most about your job?

I like that it's challenging. There's a lot of teamwork involved because everything is moving people, moving stuff. Wether it's fighting fires or EMS stuff, everybody is working together to move a patient, figuring out how to get him out of a house or where ever there at or fighting fire getting all the equipment where we need to, to put the fire out so it's kinda a team sport for older people. I like that part of it. It's always different. We're called for when something is not right for somebody, when they have an emergency and regardless wether we're trained for it or not we're expected to know how to fix it so we're problems solvers wether you know what you're supposed to do or not you gotta figure it out. I like the variety of the job and it's rewarding when you help somebody and it's very fulfilling working as a team and helping people. 

4. What made you want to rank up to captain?

Well there's a few things with that. I really feel it's an honorable spot to manage and lead people. There's a lot of people that are relying on me for that and I enjoy that puzzle. Like managing personal, figuring out where people go. Like I said I feel like it's a very honorable spot to be and I knew I wanted to. It's very fulfilling to be a part of a team and it's very honorable to be able to lead that team.

5. What made you want to get into the fire career?

Getting out of High School I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just didn't want to go to college because everyone told me I have to go to college and all my counselors said I have to go to college so I didn't want to do what people told me to do. I didn't really have a plan coming out of High School so I started framing house for 4 or 5 years and then I moved out here and I really decided I didn't want to do that. I was looking at myself in my 40s or 50s and I didn't want to be doing this at that age. Which that's where I'm at now which doesn't seem that old anymore but it did at the time and in winter's framing houses was miserable and I went hunting with my father and law and his partner in the guide service was AFMO at the forest service and he was talking about seasonal jobs and I was like well how do I get into that, I'd love to do that so I just come and apply. I spent a year as a seasonal and kept going from there. Once I started a family I didn't want to be gone for that long so I moved over here once they got on opening.