VIDEO: Call it a numbers game at Minneapolis Fire Station 6. On Engine 10, four people are now the first crew of their kind. “It means a lot to me to be able to serve the community,” Firefighter Johnny Crow said. Crow, alongside Captain Michael Graves, Firefighter Bobby Headbird and Fire Motor Operator Jessie Strong, make up Engine 10. They’re also the first crew like this in Minneapolis Fire Department history.
“It hasn’t been like this, where the whole permanent crew is Native,” Graves said. All four firefighters are enrolled members of a tribe, Graves says. Graves is a member of the Red Lake Nation. Crow is Oglala Lakota, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Headbird is a member of the Leech Lake band of Ojibwe. Strong is a member of the Bois Forte band of Ojibwe.
“Instantly, we all hit it off really well, just having that really common background,” Strong said. All four say working in Minneapolis is a chance to give back to communities. “That’s what it’s all about to me, is just the community, you know?” Headbird said. “Without the community, we don’t have jobs.” “Every day there’s moments I cherish that I could have never imagined this,” Crow said.
