Video: Northeast Mississippi Brothers Training Together in Tupelo

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TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) — Two Northeast Mississippi brothers are living out a dream, together. As WCBI’s Allie Martin reports, they have both started their new careers with the Tupelo Fire Department and are in their first week of training.

On Monday, in full gear, they were carrying a firehose through East Tupelo.

Two days later, they were in the heat building, looking for victims in a simulated fire.

Duane Jones and his little brother Sidney are the newest Tupelo Firefighters and they are going through their first week of training, together. Duane is in the National Guard and has worked in retail, Sidney worked for Toyota before joining the fire department.

“I want to be a firefighter because I think it fits me and I think I will be good at it,” said Duane Jones.

For both young men, being a firefighter is a childhood dream. Now, they are learning valuable lessons and also they see first hand how tough it is, mentally and physically.

“First, you can’t see but when you actually get to the fire, and put it out, the steam actually heats the building up even more, so it’s really hot in there,” said Sidney Jones following a grueling day of training. “You always got to have your teammate with you, they teaching us now life first, property later, the wall and your hoses are your lifelines.”

Training Officer Romeco Traylor is helping the new firefighters learn the ropes.

“This is the first time we’ve hired two brothers at the same time I think that will be good because they already know, have the buddy system already because they are brothers, that’s one thing we don’t really don’t have to teach them, to look out for each other,” said Traylor.

After a day in the heat building, the Jones brothers will be assigned to fire stations throughout the city, on the job training. Eventually, they will head to the fire academy in Pearl, as they pursue their lifelong dream.

The brothers will join 92 firefighters plus an administrative assistant at the Tupelo Fire Department.