Jason Farrar

Photos by Gary Higgins

Firefighter, Weymouth

Tell us about yourself.

"My father was in the military. We were kind of a real patriotic family. Not real strict, but brought up to do the right thing, always assert ourselves. I grew up with a lot of respect for people in the military, fire departments, police departments."

"My older brother (Andrew) was killed in Iraq. He had been on (active duty) for about four years, and he was still in. I was stationed stateside, but I did two overseas deployments for a year. It was more of a peacetime and just training when I was there. I didn't see or do half the things these guys are doing now."

"I had actually always thought about (becoming a firefighter). Actually a good friend of mine, her grandfather was a retired Boston firefighter. I was just giving her a hand, helping him move some stuff. It piqued my interest, all the stories he had. He talked about how it was the greatest job anyone could ever have. He ... died when I was in the academy. He left me some of his old gear, which was pretty cool."

"The camaraderie is probably the best part of the job. You can trust the guys you work with with anything. You get away with a lot more, like practical jokes."

THE SKINNY

RANK: Firefighter

AGE: 30

HIRED IN WEYMOUTH: 2004

BIO: Farrar grew up in South Weymouth, one of four children in his family. His older brother, Andrew, followed him into the Marines and was killed in action in January 2005 near Fallujah, Iraq. His younger brother is a longtime basketball coach and history teacher at Weymouth High School. He also has a younger sister. Farrar graduated from Weymouth High in 1996 and enlisted in the military, where he served from 1996 to 2000. He met his wife when they were in high school. The couple have three young children. Farrar worked as a cable installer for a phone company before taking the test to become a firefighter.

What did you want to be when you were a kid? I knew I wanted to go into the military. I knew I wanted to do that. After that, I really had no plan."

What would you have been if not a firefighter? Gone from the Marine Corps to a civilian job.

What do you do in your spare time? "Entertain three children. You just kind of learn to read each individual kid's likes and dislikes. The three of them have different agendas all at the same time. We like being outside in the summer and hate being trapped indoors in the winter."

Parting thought: "So many people take for granted everything they have that's provided by others - military, fire and police. A lot of people like to bash them until they're needed."