TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - A Toledo Firefighter is now clocking in at the Toledo Police Department.
While working at the fire station, James Trevino battled several fires. Several of those fires were intentionally set, and he battled them alongside with people he thinks of as his new family.
"The comradery you live with people for a third of your life and they become family," explained Trevino. "They are dangerous, especially when you get people cutting holes in the floors so that the fire is being fed with oxygen."
Toledo is known nationwide for being one of the busiest arson related cities, and Trevino felt a need to help cut down on the city's arson problem, all to help his brothers and sisters on the line.
And that is why he decided to join the Toledo Police Academy in order to get the certifications he needed to become a fire investigator. It's move he got some heat for.
"In the academy, the instructors would give it to me and i couldn't do anything about it," Trevino explained.
Trevino did graduate, which allowed him to become a member of the Toledo Fire Investigation unit. He's one of three firefighters, who teamed up with two Toledo Police officers who combine resources and knowledge to crack cases and make arrests in arsons.
"They have things they are good at, we have things we are good at. And it's linking those things together to make the unit stronger," Trevino said.
The unit has been solving cases and convicting arsonists. Trevino added that the departments in cities across the country are taking notice. It's work he is proud to be a part of.
