On 1st day at job, fireman called to own house

Some 15 minutes after starting his first day at Jerusalem fire station, Itamar Chotter receives phone call from wife, telling him fire broke out at their house

Reuters | Published: 08.18.13, 19:42

Itamar Chotter, 30, left his house in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo Sunday morning, on his first day as a firefighter with a Jerusalem fire station. Only several minutes after he arrived at the station, however, his wife called him to tell him that a fire broke out in their house.

Chotter was in training and was supposed to accompany the station's staff on his first day. "It happened on my first 15 minutes in the station. As soon as I finished the conversation (with his instructor) and started to get ready, I got the call from my wife," he told Ynet.

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According to Chotter, his wife and her mother were using the grill, as a balloon gas broke loose and caught on fire.

Chotter next to grill (Photo: Yair Agranat, Jerusalem firefighting services)

(Photo: Yair Agranat, Jerusalem firefighting services)

"She immediately called me," he said. "I was nervous, seeing as I have a little girl at home."

"I alerted the guys here and left with them, but made it to the apartment after they had extinguished the flames."

Three firefighting teams arrived at the house. No one was injured and damages were minor.

"I didn’t expect this to happen to me – that the first fire I'd be going to would be at my own house. It got personal and I'm glad it ended well," Chotter said.