Al entered the fire fighting service in 2001 as a volunteer of a small rural department in Brazoria County, Texas, after a short semi-retirement from a 25 year career as a CPA and financial manager, in order to research and improve the ISO rating of that department. He was appointed as an initial commissioner of the Emergency Services District formed for the area as the Treasurer. He joined and served as a volunteer Board Member and station and training officer with the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department in the Houston, Texas, area in 2006. Upon completion of training to be TCFP commissioned he was hired by the Eastex Freeway Volunteer Fire Department (response area now managed by Harris County ESD10) in 2010. In 2019, he was appointed to the IAFC Wildland Fire Policy Committee. Al retired from Eastex in 2022 but felt he still had the fitness and motivation to serve the community and began working part time for the Waller-Harris County ESD 200 as an officer and TIFMAS Coordinator to develop a mutual aid deployment program for the agency. The fire service became of part of his life late in his career, but the challenges of serving the community in an operational capacity has been and continues to be source of satisfaction for someone who always seems to be the oldest guy in the room.