Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Capt. Wesley Knibbs found his niche in the most unexpected place — the Natchez Fire Department.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Knibbs’ passion from a young age was to help people. He thought he would fulfill that dream by becoming a physician. Becoming a firefighter was never in the picture. Life threw him some interesting curve balls.

Knibbs loved to play football and was good at it. When he was in the fifth grade, his mother wanted him to have more opportunities, so she moved to Miami, where he played football.

Upon high school graduation, Knibbs went to Alcorn State University on a football scholarship. He graduated in 2010 with a degree in biology.

Also while at Alcorn, he fell in love and married a Natchez woman, Courtney Cherise Ford.

“I wanted to be a doctor, but decided to enter the workforce before going to medical school. When I graduated from college, I went to work for Astra Zeneca in pharmaceutical sales in Atlanta. We were there for about three years, but my wife got homesick and wanted to move closer to her family,” he said.

“We went to church at Smithland Baptist Church on Highway 61 north. Aaron Wesley, who was fire marshal at the time, went to that church and started talking to me about coming to work at the fire department,” Knibbs said. “Fire department? Running into burning buildings? No, that was not for me. I thought he was crazy.”

However, Wesley wore him down, he said, and Knibbs applied.

“I’ve been in love with it ever since,” Knibbs said. He began work as a Natchez firefighter on April 1, 2013.

He so loves his work as a firefighter, Knibbs is also a captain in the Concordia Parish Fire District.

“I try to find as much time as possible for the family, but I tend to work as much as I can right now. I’m 36 and Courtney and I have four children,” he said. Those children are Chase, 14, Payton, 11, Nova, 4 and Cairo, 1.

Mrs. Knibbs, who worked in the mental health field, has been a stay-at-home mom since she had her last child.

“The main thing I enjoy about this job is the gratification I get knowing I’m helping people in need. When someone is having the worst day of their life, we can help. We can be a bright spot,” Knibbs said.

He said the training he received quickly alleviated any fear he had of fighting fires.

“Training helped tremendously. I went to work under Chief (Robert) Arrington, who was a lieutenant then. Watching him in his element while on a scene, seeing how he interacted with others and how he conducted himself was a great learning experience,” Knibbs said.

“When you become a firefighter, there is still always an element of nervousness. You are putting yourself in danger, of course you will be nervous, but it’s what you do with that. You hone in on your training. You focus, and a light bulb turns on and it becomes second nature.”

Knibbs said he has had the opportunity to work hand in hand with several other ranking members of the fire department and learned from them all.

“Right now, we are at a good point in the fire department. We have a good mixture of young and enthusiastic men and women and veteran guys. We have nothing but opportunities to grow and build. With the vision Chief Arrington has brought to us, he is ushering in the new age of firefighting,” Knibbs said.

The materials used to build houses today make firefighting more challenging, he said.

“Materials used to build houses today are cheaper than they used to be. With the materials used today, a house becomes fully involved within 12 minutes. We used a lot of cowboy-style firefighting back in the day, and that is not sufficient now,” Knibbs said.

He said Arrington is very progressive when it comes to training, and Knibbs is trained as a hazmat technician, as a rope rescue technician and as a confined space technician.

He said he sees more training in his future.

“At this point in my career, I feel like the best way I can serve this fire department is to be on truck and continuing to train other guys,” Knibbs said. “One day, I may move into the investigation side of firefighting, but that’s off in the future.”