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Cameron & Connor Willson Through the Fire Susan Marquez Little boys love to pretend they are cowboys, policemen, or firefighters. Cameron and Connor Willson were no different. Only now, it’s no longer child’s play. Both brothers are professional firefighters, and they take their jobs very seriously. 38 • MARCH 2023
Cameron, a firefighter with the Madison Fire Department, is the older of the two brothers at 31. “It may sound cliché, but I got into firefighting because I like to help others,” he says. “I enjoy the work. I never know what each day will bring. It could be a medical call, a car wreck, or a fire. It allows me to be spontaneous.” Connor, 29, didn’t set out to be a firefighter. He went to Ole Miss with aspirations of being a coach. “I kind of fell into firefighting,” he says. “I knew other firefighters, and I thought their job looked interesting.” He began his training while still in Oxford. “I attended the Mississippi State Fire Academy in Pearl to become a certified firefighter.” Cameron also got his certification at the Mississippi State Fire Academy. While there, he learned about a specialized certification called Smoke Divers. “It’s a class that was initially developed to help with the air packs,” he explained. The packs, called SCBA, are similar to SCUBA tanks. The difference is that SCUBA tanks are used underwater, and SCBA packs are used on land, primarily in smokefilled structures. “Many firefighters weren’t confident with the air packs,” says Cameron. The class began with learning the capabilities and limitations of the masks. Over the years, it has evolved into a class that teaches advanced firefighter tactics, such as hose movement, search and rescue, and firefighting. “It’s a hard workload that really tests your mettle,” Cameron says. The class is taught at the State Fire Academy and requires teams of two. “That team of two does the work of three teams,” says Cameron. “Because of that, advanced training to prepare for the class is necessary. Connor says that he and Cameron trained together for almost a year before taking the class. “We had to work around each other’s schedules to train, but it was something we had to do.” Hometown MADISON • 39
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