Firefighter/paramedic Jeremy Chavez could be putting out a burning building in the morning, rescuing a victim from a car crash in the afternoon and saving someone from a heart attack at night.

There’s no typical day at the office for Vicksburg’s firefighter of the year.

“It’s around the clock. There’s no rhyme or reason to it,” Chavez said. “You can run at any time. Getting sleep is the exception.”

Certainly such a schedule requires great flexibility. And that’s why the Vicksburg Home Coming Benevolent Club honored Chavez in February, Chief Charles Atkins said.

Chavez began his career with VFD as one of the department’s contracted paramedics, who are not covered under the civil service commission. Soon after joining the department, he decided to make the leap to full-fledged firefighter/medic.

“He’s adapted to handle anything we do. It was amazing coming as a non-civil service paramedic and then want to do all that,” Atkins said.

Just for his paramedic certification, Chavez had to complete more than a thousand hours of classroom and clinical instruction. He’s got to be able to make quick life-saving decisions at a moment’s notice in the field.

“It’s comparable to a nursing degree. It just doesn’t pay as much,” he said.

Add firefighter training on top of that and the ability to speak Spanish and sign language, and Chavez is prepared for almost any emergency.

“More so than anything, you’re going to be using your paramedic skills,” Chavez said of the work he does on a 24-hour shift.

In January, Chavez was the medic on duty in an ambulance that rolled over in a heavy storm on Interstate 20 while transporting a patient to Jackson, Atkins said.

“The condition of the patient warranted them going in an emergency vehicle to the hospital,” Chavez said. “They were supposed to go by helicopter, but the weather kept them from taking off.”

The emergency vehicle rolled over and landed on its roof near Clinton in Hinds County.

Chavez was not injured in the crash, nor was the patient or a nurse who was riding in the ambulance. Chavez’s partner who was driving the ambulance was knocked out but quickly recovered.

“Our motto is not to hurt anybody more than they’re already hurting. We thank God for the blessings that we get,” Atkins said of the crash.

Chavez is a native of California whose family moved to New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina. After the storm they were forced to flee and moved to Jackson.

“Just as I was getting ready to move back to California, I met my wife,” he said.

He and his wife, Eugenia, live in Ridgeland.