Okauchee Fire Department member Dan Ferrise will retire after more than three decades on the department

TOWN OF OCONOMOWOC - A love of baseball led 19-year-old Dan Ferrise to join the Okauchee Fire Department. A love of firefighting kept him there for more than three decades. 

Ferrise is retiring May 19 as president of the department.

He joined the department in 1982 so he could play ball on the department team with his father, Frank, who had joined OFD in the late 1970s.

Ferrise's family moved to Okauchee when he was a teenager.

"He got me involved over there and wanted me to play baseball with the fire department," Ferrise said. "Of course that meant I had to join the fire department, which meant I had to go to school and become Firefighter 1. All to play baseball with my dad."

Ferrise, who has been the OFD president the last six years, will retire this month. He and his wife are building a home in Rubicon.

"It's time for me to spend more time with my wife," Ferrise said. "Our kids are grown up now. Her and I wanted to do a little more traveling and spend a little more time together."

Ferrise has been on the OFD board of directors since the early 1990s.

"Firefighting has always been a dream of mine," said Ferrise, who serves as the general manager at MJS Landscaping Services in Pewaukee. "I didn't get paid for it, but God, it's fun. There's nothing like going into a burning building. There really isn't. It's an adrenaline rush."

"I like to give back and I like to help people," Ferrise said. "That's the most I got out of what I did here because I was able to help people in their time of need, whether it be a house fire, a car accident, getting somebody out of the car, getting them to the hospital. That's the best feeling on earth."

While the decision to move on from OFD was difficult, Ferrise thinks volunteering will always be a part of his life.

"(Firefighting) was something I always wanted to do," Ferrise said. "I mean what little kid didn't want to be a firemen or policemen? I had the opportunity to give back to the community for 35 years. I don't regret a minute."