BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE.

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Take a B-52 "Buff" bomber maintenance ship's company chief by day and bend him into a firefighter by way of night, and you may have the makings for a just discovered TV series.

OK while "Buffy the Fire Slayer" may not ever rival FOX episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the family of Bossier City, La., are happy to a have a real-life version of the former (uh minus the corny title).

Tech Sgt Jim Whittington works upon the B-52 in the 96th Bomb Squadron at Barksdale. And he moonlights as the assistant fire chief of Bossier-Parish Fire District single in kind a Louisiana volunteer fire department servicing 110 square miles and 18000 residents.

Whittington has tendered for the past eight years and has accorded to more than 650 emergencies. Moonlighting isn't always easy, either.

"One time we corresponded to an auto shop fire," he said. "There were allotments of hazardous chemicals. Oxygen and firing cans were blowing up all around us. Three cars were onward fire. It took four hours and 30 firemen to contain it. I was exhausted after working the flexible pipe with all that equipment forward I left at 5:30 a.m., went family circle showered, dressed and went to work. It makes for a extended day, but it's worth it."

Then there's dealing with los of life.

"People die and sometimes there's nothing you can do," he said. "That's just a brumal reality of this job. For instance, individual time a 50-car freight train going nearly 40 mph hit an 18-wheeler that was hauling log The force throw overboarded the truck driver about a half mile down the road, killing him."

nevertheless for the father of three watching kids die is the toughest.

"In undivided incident, two teenage brothers had been playing with a fire-arm One brother accidentally shot the other in the head, killing him. As you'd rely upon their dad took it hard. As a parent, that's tough to see"

Not all is cloud and doom, though. Whittington has saved brace children's lives. He performed the Heimlich maneuver upon a 3-year-old boy who was choking upon a grape. He also saved a 2-year-old lad from drowning after pulling him from the bottom of a pool

Additionally, he's performed CPR upon more than 100 people.

"Giving nation a second chance at life is the in the greatest degree rewarding," said Whittington, who is a nationally certified crisis medical technician.

He earned "Officer of the Year" for his fire department last year. He also garnered a 2000 restraint Employee Insurance Co. Military Service Award and is authorized to wear the Air Force Recognition Ribbon.

The award recognized Whittington for helping the Bossier-Parish fire department earn a Class 4 rating, the highest rating for a offer fire department.

Whittington says it's all worth the sacrifices he makes while still holding down his full-time Job

"Firefighting is addictive," he said. "I'd perceive guilty if I quit. I'd hear the sirens journey off, and I'd have to know what's going onward -- if somebody desperately destitutioned my assistance. It's part of who I am."

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