(jingle music) - How do people react when they see the truck pulling up at the supermarket?

- It gets mixed reactions.

Some people are like, "That's weird."

Or like, or, and some people are like, "Well what's the emergency?"

And we're like, "We need to eat."

(upbeat music) - This is Seattle Fire Station 27 in Georgetown and the crew just returned from a very important mission, grocery shopping.

What's for dinner?

I invited myself over to find out.

I'm Rachel Belle, host of "Your Last Meal" podcast, cookbook author and longtime journalist.

Today on "The Nosh", we are cooking with fire.

(upbeat whimsical music) (siren wails) You guys rolled up with all of your groceries?

- We did.

- I didn't know that you took the whole fire truck to the store.

- Yes, so we take the apparatus with us so that we can respond from wherever we are.

So even though we're in the grocery store- - Yeah.

- We have our radios on us.

If we get a call, we put the groceries down, we go to the emergency, and then we come back and try and finish our shopping.

Sometimes that takes one trip.

Sometimes that takes- - [Rachel] Really?

- Several trips, yep.

- You've gotten interrupted multiple times.

- Yeah, I think the most is four times before we actually- - That's ridiculous.

- Were able to get out of the store with the groceries, so.

(upbeat music) - When they're on duty, firefighters can live at the firehouse for days at a time.

But cooking and eating meals together helps make coworkers feel more like family and their workplace feel more like a home.

For Lieutenant Hilton Jones, cooking is taking care of his crew.

(vegetables smack) Who decides what you're gonna have?

- That's the person that cooks for that day.

- It's you.

- Yeah.

- So how did that shake out?

How did you become the cook of the station?

- I don't mind cooking, being Southern, it's kind of something that I enjoy.

- So what is the schedule like?

How many hours are you on?

How long are you here?

Kind of gimme an idea of what it's like with your family here.

- We're here for a full 24 hours, so we eat, sleep, shower, live here for a day or more at a time and pack up and go home when we're done.

- It's so interesting 'cause usually there's a divide between most people at work.

It's, you know, you have your private life- - Yes.

- And then you have your work life.

You guys don't have that.

- Kind of helps us do some of the tougher things we see on this job but I wouldn't trade it.

It's something that that's really prioritized.

Like let's sit down and eat together at least.

And this is our time to really like catch up with, "Hey, how's your family?

"How's your family?

"Hey, that call we want was really tough," or "It's still bothering me."

- Right.

- So you have those moments to kind of just separate yourself from the things we see and do and say, "Okay, now I can just kind of actually like "step out of being what I am in uniform and be a person."

- Right.

- And like open up to the people that kind of go through the same trauma with you.

- Can I guess what this is?

- Absolutely.

- Is this the Marry Me Chicken?

- Similar.

I think that dish calls for more cream than broth.

We have to be able to like stay awake.

So we don't want to overdo the- - Yeah, you can't just be like.

(moans) - The comfort foods, yeah.

(upbeat music) - Tonight Lieutenant Jones is making seared chicken with angel hair pasta and a creamy sun dried tomato Parmesan sauce and seared balsamic green beans.

So what do you call the kitchen?

- In the fire service, the kitchen is called the Beanery and that comes from very, very long ago and it was basically when firefighters could only afford beans to eat.

- Keep it literal.

- [Hilton] Yeah, exactly.

(upbeat music continues) - [Rachel] Do you salt your pasta water?

- Actually I do a little bit.

(upbeat music continues) - Yes, the tears, the tears of the mermaids.

- Yeah.

So I just shake a little bit in there like that and just kind of flash brown.

So when they're ready I usually just take a little bit of balsamic and finish 'em off in there and then you can just use the tongs and- - Okay.

- [Hilton] Keep that there.

- The crew is responsible for buying all their own groceries and if they want a toaster, a blender, mixing bowls, basically anything you'd find in your home kitchen, they have to bring it in themselves.

Have you ever rescued a cat from a tree?

- I actually have.

- You have?

- Still got the scratch mark to prove it.

- Really?

- This right here on my wrist.

- Whoa, that's a major scratch.

- That was a life lesson to never rescue a cat without gloves.

(upbeat music) We'll just let that simmer and then once this simmers for a few minutes, we can plate this up and eat.

- Nice.

Is everyone ready to eat?

- They're always ready to eat.

- Do you have a bell?

Ding a ling ling ling.

- We have a PA system.

Dinner, dinner's ready?

Come get it.

Dinner in the beanery.

(upbeat music) - Tell me about your experience just living and working in a firehouse.

- Very family oriented here in the station, so be able to sit down, eat together, share stories with families back home and what's going on life and whatnot.

It's pretty nice that way.

- And I think many cultures around the world, the firehouse is no different, that there's a big center around food.

It's what brings people together.

- [Rachel] Yeah.

- And it's just something that we can all enjoy.

(gentle music) - [Rachel] So you have a specialty, you're famous for your cheesecakes?

- I wouldn't say famous.

- Okay.

- I personally, I mean, I technically don't even eat 'em.

- You don't?

- No, I don't eat 'em, they're too rich for me.

I was kind of always tasked with dessert for like family meals.

Kind of took it and ran with it and just started experimenting with flavors.

And so it's cinnamon graham cracker and then classic cheesecake.

And then the, there's a layer of sour cream, sugar, and vanilla extract and then the blueberry compote.

When you cut through it, mine are very creamy, more so than- - Lieutenant.

It's very good.

- Thank you.

- It's so good.

- Sometimes we get halfway through dinner and we have to drop the fork and our food sits here and gets cold and we just try to make the most of it when we get back, but that's, it's part of the job.

- Well thank you to the city for not having a fire while we were eating dinner today.

- [Hilton] Yes.

- [Producer] Your hands are showing.

- Okay, yeah, we'll just be natural.

We'll just be very natural.

- [Producer] Two, one.

- [Narrator] "The Nosh" was made possible in part with the generous support of Alaska Airlines.