‘He is a true leader.’ Longtime Merced County fireman hangs up hat after three decades
Over a long career as a firefighter there are going to be calls that stick with you forever.
For Jeremy Rahn, 50, one of those calls came early on when he was working as a volunteer firefighter with the Atwater Fire Department.
It was a house fire that Rahn and his team were able to salvage the house by containing the fire. In doing so, the firefighters were able to save many personal belongings that were special to the family.
“There are numerous calls that are in that slide carousel that is in your brain,” Rahn said. “To be able to protect their property meant something. That was my first experience of saving something. Back in those days you couldn’t replace items like family pictures that you can today.”
Rahn says he’s always tried “to make somebody’s bad day better.”
It was a call like that — early on in Rahn’s career — that helped enforce that Rahn was doing what he was supposed to be doing.
Rahn recently retired from Cal Fire after working 30 years as a firefighter in Merced County.
Friday Feb, 26 was his last day in uniform.
“Jeremy is a true asset for the department,” Merced County Fire Chief Mike Van Loben Sels said. “The relationships he had with the public, staff and different fire departments helped facilitate great relationships. He is a true leader. Jeremy has a great command presence. He’s fair and consistent with employees and he’s a guy who will listen and help come up with solutions.
“His retirement is a big loss for the department.”
Starting at a young age
Rahn graduated from Atwater High in 1989.
His career started as a volunteer at the Atwater Fire Station in 1991 at 20 years old.
Rahn was hired by the Atwater City Fire Department in 1995 as fire apparatus engineer. In October 2008, Rahn started his career with Cal Fire when the Atwater City contracted fire protection services. Rahn and the rest of the personnel transitioned within the Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit.
Rahn remembers one of Atwater’s biggest fires when a commercial building caught fire near Five Corners over 10 years ago.
“We had our old 1976 ladder truck.,” Rahn said. “I remember it was a hot afternoon. I think it was 103 degrees. There were EMTs giving IVs to some of the firefighters on the scene.”
In January 2014, Rahn was promoted to battalion chief where he was assigned to Merced County Office of Emergency Services and in May 2017 he transferred to the Los Banos Battalion.
In January 2019, Rahn was promoted again to assistant chief, assigned to the Merced Division where he served until his retirement.
“What I saw the most with Jeremy was his ability to communicate and keeping everyone up to date was phenomenal,” said Merced County Supervisor Daron McDaniel. “There were no surprises coming with Cal Fire.”
Rahn felt fortunate to work with the people he did the last 30 years.
“I’ve worked with many great organizations over the years, including the Atwater City Fire Department and Cal Fire,” Rahn said. “They’ve been able to handle a lot of chaos over the years. I’ve been able to work with the right group of people.”
Rahn also helped establish the Fire Academy at Merced College, which has helped develop many firefighters over the years. Future firefighters were able to take classes on firefighter safety, fire behavior and control, building construction, firefighter rescue and other useful skills.
The program helped local departments in Atwater, Merced, Los Banos and Merced County hire local firefighters.
Rahn says he’ll likely continue teaching classes at Merced College after retirement.
“We’ve had a lot of students go through the program,” Rahn said. “I was having a cup of coffee the other day and two of the chief officers with Cal Fire were former students.”
One person excited for Rahn’s retirement is his daughter Paige. She’s just not sure he’s ready for it.
“No, he loves his job so much,” she said. “He’s never not on his phone helping someone with something. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles being retired. He’s been my number one role model my entire life. I look up to him. I hope I can repay him for everything he’s done for me. Hopefully I’ll get to spend more time with him.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
