Nolensville Firefighter Stacie Reap Found her calling as a First Responder 

Stacie McCormick Reap has spent nearly five years as a firefighter with the Nolensville Fire Department, fulfilling her childhood dream of serving as a first responder. Born and raised as the youngest of six kids in Fairfax, Virginia, she watched her dad work for the NTSB as an incident investigator on their crash site “Go-Team,” which sparked a civil servant in her.  

“I’ve always enjoyed practicing emergency medicine. After 13 years in the corporate world, I was finally able to circle back to first responding. I became interested in firefighting because it allows me to utilize my athleticism for the physical part of the job, practice emergency medicine, and be part of building this department, which will hopefully serve the community for decades to come,” said Stacie, who joined the department as a volunteer before being hired as a full-time in 2023. 

“Watching my dad respond to emergencies and other high-profile incidents inspired me to pursue a career in first responding and investigations.”

On her usual working days, Stacie reports to the station by 6:30 am to relieve the outgoing crew and get her riding assignment from her officer. The crew completes the truck check-offs and tries to complete a gym workout between 9 and 11 am, and they get in some crew training. She is currently completing EMT school and taking courses toward completing a certificate in fire investigation. She’s been helping volunteers prepare for the job and fire academy by writing their training programs. 

“I’m in the process of furthering my personal training experience by obtaining a Prenatal and Postpartum Athleticism Coaching certificate. One of my future goals is to utilize this knowledge with my background as a personal trainer and firefighter to develop tactical training programs for pregnant and postpartum first responders,” the mom of one shared. 

Stacie enjoys every bit of her job and says it never gets boring, and there’s a place for all backgrounds and interests. She loves teaching newcomers, and seeing their confidence grow is a big motivation for her, too. As a mom, firefighter, athlete, coach, and community server, Stacie has learned to be grateful and not have an ego. She believes that mental grit, resilience, gratitude, a good work ethic, and a good attitude will get us far in life.  

“Keep paying it forward by helping those behind you; you may be paving the way without realizing it,” she said. “One of my favorite quotes from the fire service that I believe wholeheartedly is to “surround yourself with people who fight for you behind closed doors.”