A fixture at local emergency calls, unofficial fire dog Gertie joined the Hillman Fire Department family as a puppy, tagging along with owner and volunteer firefighter Chris Hardies.

Now, the 6-year-old black lab regularly peers out of a fire truck window at fires, waiting for Hardies and his colleagues to finish the job and be OK.

A dog padding about at firefighter trainings and poking its head from a fire truck fits the all-in-the-family vibe of a small-town fire department, Hardies said.

When an alert rouses Gertie’s firefighter family into action, “She gets all excited,” Hardies said. “She’s like, ‘Let’s go.'”

News Photo by Julie Riddle Gertie, a black lab, offers a friendly sniff to a visitor at the Hillman Fire Department last week, to the amusement of owner Chris Hardies.

Gertie joins Hardies on his day job working on electrical projects at schools, sawmills, and other businesses across the region.

Kids at schools and workers at construction sites “don’t know my name, but they know Gertie,” Hardies said, ruffling the dog’s ears as he sat on the metal step of a fire truck at the Hillman fire station last week.

Gertie only looked perplexedly at her owner when he urged her to hop onto a truck.

When an emergency comes, though, the dog bounds into the fire truck’s cab, Hardies said.

Then again, eagerness to get to a fire comes with being part of the firefighting family, he added.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Firefighter Chris Hardies gives a belly rub to unofficial fire dog Gertie at the Hillman Fire Department fire station last week.

Like many others in the department, Hardies followed in the footsteps of family members who volunteered for the department in the past.

Several people who on Saturday graduated from a fire academy at the Hillman department represent the second or third generation of firefighters in their families, he said.

Men and women keep signing up for the volunteer job, generation after generation, because it’s what family does, Hardies said.

Like his dad, brothers, and uncle, “I wanted to be one of those guys that could go in and help,” Hardies said, “instead of one of the people who stand back and wish they could help.”

At a recent fire that destroyed a home south of Hillman, after greeting all the firefighters, Gertie waited in a fire truck, chin resting on the open window as she watched them work.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Gertie, a 6-year-old black lab owned by firefighter Chris Hardies, watches from a Hillman Fire Department fire truck window as firefighters battle a blaze near Hillman earlier this month.

When Hardies went into the fire in his turnout gear, the dog whined and fussed until she saw him come out, other firefighters told him.

Work among flames can be scary, Hardies conceded, but, for the family of firefighters, heading toward the fire instead of away from it is second nature.

“It’s what we do,” Hardies said, his ridealong dog by his side. “Thankfully, there’s guys that are willing to take that call.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Gertie, a 6-year-old black lab and unofficial fire dog, lays a politely demanding paw on the knee of owner and volunteer firefighter Chris Hardies as Hardies looks for puppy photos on his phone at the Hillman Fire Department fire station last week.