While he’s been employed at the department for the last 11 years, he’s served in the capacity of lieutenant for the past five. In recent months he appeared in an episode of “Hearts of Heroes” which focused on the July 2018 tornado.

“I’ve wanted to do this since I was little. My dad was a volunteer in Le Grand, and I got interested then,” he said.

A native of Le Grand, now residing in Gilman, Cecak graduated from East Marshall High School then pursued an Associate’s degree from MCC. He then obtained his EMT and firefighter certifications while working as a volunteer firefighter in Tama.

The MFD breaks its staff into three work shifts – A,B and C – with him working on the B crew. Arriving at the station at 7 a.m., he’ll work a 24-hour long shift, followed by 48 hours off, then repeat. A crew consists of eight people, but six minimum need to be on staff during a shift, with three people per firetruck.

Cecak said the staff meets first thing in the morning to discuss any calls the previous shift responded to. This is followed by cleaning and inspecting equipment and trucks. Firefighters also go out into the community to conduct building inspections. Down time is spent working out and or completing continuing education studies or projects. Calls – basic to life-threatening – are peppered throughout the shift. Firefighters are allowed to leave the station for non-business calls if they go out in a firetruck.

Cecak said he and colleagues have been shopping at the grocery store before when a call required them to immediately leave.

“I ride the rescue truck every shift, or serve as the acting captain if the captain is gone,” he said. “We go on every medical call within the city and are paged to every extrication (Jaws of Life) call in the county.”

Staying fit is more for the sake of the job rather than vanity.

“The main goal is being to able to stay strong and move well. You gotta have a pretty good cardio capacity to sustain high levels of work for a long time. You could be sitting around doing nothing, and then the next minute get called out to a house fire going 100 miles per hour,” he said.

Police, fire and paramedics/EMTs all play critically important roles at the scene of an incident.

“The police’s job is scene control and investigation, the ambulance provides patient care and we (firefighters) are scene stabilization and extrication,” he explained.

While the MFD mainly responds to medical calls, Cecak said for its size, Marshalltown sees its fair share of fires.

“Our job is changing all the time. We’re always running into new things and try to learn new ways of doing things,” he said.

Namely, the nature of fires has changed.

“Fires are different than they were 50 years ago. Houses are built out of different materials. You used to walk into a house and there wouldn’t be much plastic. Now houses are full of plastics,” he said. “Couches marked as being made from flame-resistant materials are, and it takes awhile to burn through them, but once it does, the stuff under is extremely flammable and burns very quickly. It burns dirtier and more toxic smoke.”

Cecak said there is typically one fire hydrant on every or every other city block in Marshalltown. When they freeze in the winter, a long hose may have to be stretched to connect to a hydrant farther up the street. Firefighters, including Cecak, must wear protective gear when responding to a fire. This garb weighs anywhere from 80 to 100 pounds. Air tanks last 30 to 45 minutes depending on how much oxygen a firefighter needs to sustain strength. A light-weight microphone clipped to the coat allows firefighters inside a burning structure to be able to communicate with the crew outside. Water, and or foam, will be sprayed to smother the flames.

“I go into the fire, where a chief typically runs the fire (scene) from outside,” he said.

The MFD hierarchy is as follows: firefighters, lieutenants, captains (who run the shift), the deputy chief and chief. A fire marshal is also employed.

“I’m the one who has to think about safety, but everybody in the department is a safety specialist. That is why we train so much,” he said. “You have to mentally process a lot of things very quickly. Beams used to be solid pieces of board and now they’re particle board and that burns through much faster … roof collapse times have diminished by 10 to 12 minutes.”

Because of the health hazards associated with firefighting, policies have evolved.

“We don’t take air packs off right away. We monitor the atmosphere for carbon monoxide,” he said. “We ventilate structures with fans.”

Gear and clothing is washed to get rid of carcinogens and toxins. Cancer and breathing diseases can develop years later.

While fires have changed, so have departments.

“With a full-time department you can respond quickly to a scene a lot of times before a structure caves in,” he noted. “One of the changing philosophies in fire tech is if you can see the fire through a window, why not spray it through a window first. You can definitely knock it down that way and then it makes the conditions inside a lot safer.”

While Cecak enjoys being a lieutenant, he would someday like to be a captain.

In his spare time, he enjoys golfing, hunting and family time with his wife and four children.

“When you leave in the morning and feel you accomplished something, that is rewarding,” he said.

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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at

641-753-6611 or

sjordan@timesrepublican.com