It was four or five months ago when the Station II fire engineers noticed the kid across the street. The firemen noticed the thin kid because he was standing there the day before, too.

Many times when the fire engines are called out, there would be the kid, standing across the street.

As questions arose among the firefighters, they wondered what the kid wanted, why he stood there watching the firehouse.

One day several months ago, a firefighter decided to find out what the kid was up to. When the kid showed up on his bicycle, the firefighter crossed the street.

“He said ’Every time you guys go out, I like to watch,’” said Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Inspector Danny Dantzler. “So, I surprised him by asking him if he’d like to see one of the trucks up close.”

It seems Kebei Wannamaker is fascinated with firefighting, hoping to one day be a firefighter himself.

Kebei no longer stands across the street. He stands with the firefighters at Station II. Now that school is out for the summer, he spends as much time there as he can.

“I like what they do and stuff,” Wannamaker said. “They help some people.”

Kebei’s mom, Monica Wannamaker, said “He’s been interested in this since he was three years old.”

“I think it’s a positive thing. There’s so many things he could be getting into,” she said.

A rising fifth-grader at Whittaker Elementary School, he used to have toy fire trucks and plastic firefighter helmets he could play with.

But he’s done away with those. The 11-year-old has replaced his toys with firefighting training manuals, a real helmet and other fireman gear.

“I like to read the books and stuff because they tell me about the trucks and pumps, stuff I don’t know,” Kebei said.

The very soft-spoken youth says that from his Sawyer Street home a quarter-mile behind the station, he can hear the emergency vehicles being toned out. When that siren goes off, he admits he rushes to the window to see if he can see his heroes on their way to help others.

While he can’t join Ladder Company 8 on a call or Engine 62’s crew (his two favorites), he does what he can to help. After a call and the firefighters come back, he hops on his bicycle to meet the men and women at the station.

Kebei helps dry out and roll up hoses with the rest of the firemen. Whatever is needed around the station, the future firefighter is ready to offer a hand.

Age requirements and legalities are perhaps the only obstacles standing in Kebei’s way as far as his participating in an actual emergency call. But the Station II firemen did take him recently to watch a few training courses.

When asked, Kebei said he thought he could handle the training course. The Station II firefighters thought so, too.

On May 31, the night of the annual ODPS awards ceremony, Kebei was asked to attend as the officers and firefighters received promotions and recognition.

Perhaps the majority of those present knew what would transpire, but one young man who once stood across the street did not. As the awards were being presented, there was one more name to be called out: Kebei Wannamaker. Perhaps the youngest ever in the history of Orangeburg, Kebei was named an engineer, albeit honorary, with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety.

“The fact is, we made him an honorary engineer at the urging of the engineers,” Dantzler said.

Kebei was presented with a plaque that announced his promotion.

“I did not know anything,” he said of the surprise. “I was excited.”

So excited that he rode his bike afterward to where else? Station II to show off his plaque to the guys who couldn’t attend the banquet.

Kebei’s plans are to study every training manual he can find, study hard in school and when he turns 18, follow his dream.

Today Kebei no longer stands across the street. He’s on the same side as the firefighters.

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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