Moorestown firefighter Christian Payne has been a member of the Lenola Fire Company Station 313 since he was 16. He was promoted to lieutenant earlier this year.
Moorestown firefighter Christian Payne was recently promoted to lieutenant at Lenola Fire Company Station 313, making him the first African American in that role in the station’s history.
“I’ve never been happier to be able to be a first-generation firefighter in my family, and then especially become an officer,” he said.
Payne looks forward to teaching kids everything he knows and helping them become better people and better firefighters, should they choose that path. But he also looks forward to taking on a mentoring role.
“It’s not just all fire calls,” Payne explained. “It’s also being able to help kids if they’re having problems in school or … it’s more mentoring, and I’m the youngest sibling, so I never had a little sibling to talk to. So I’m excited to help young guys and young girls who come in and also show everyone that I may be 25, but I’m able to do this because everyone sees that I’m able to do it.”
Payne joined Station 313 as a junior firefighter at 16. His parents were nervous at first because no one in the family had ever worked in emergency services, but Payne knows they’re proud of him because they know how much he loves the work.
“They’re excited to see that I’ve been doing this for years now, and I think they’re happy for me,” he noted.
Christian Payne has always loved fire trucks and started dressing as a firefighter at 3 years old.
Payne has always loved fire trucks and started dressing as a firefighter at 3 years old. He’s always been dedicated to caring for and saving others, but it was observing neighbor and Moorestown fire official Matt Orsini that contributed to him becoming a firefighter.
“I’d be in the front yard playing and I’d hear his pager go off and see him running to his truck,” Payne recalled of Orsini, “and a few minutes later, I would hear the fire trucks going off … I never knew what it really was until I got around him more and talked to him more about it. He was dropping everything he was doing to go help a stranger and he has no idea what’s going on.”
That love and passion continued as Payne got older, and through the years, he’s traded his junior helmet in for a regular firefighter one. He described the moment he first walked into Station 313 as a dream come true, and he was welcomed by everyone with open arms.
“The camaraderie was just amazing from the start – and still is – and it’s pretty much a family,” Payne emphasized. “No matter what happens, I can always call one of the guys and I know that they’ll come and help me out or have my back.”
Last year, Payne attended FDIC International in Indianapolis, the largest conference and trade show for the fire and rescue industry in North America. There he met people from all over the world, and he took classes on man versus machinery (for example, if someone got their hand stuck in a meat grinder or if they fell off a fence post, Payne can cut it and get them out safely) and vehicle extraction with semi-trucks. He believes FDIC International was the best thing he’s ever done.
“Everyone was so nice out there and any questions that you had, they were willing to answer right there on the spot,” he remembered. “No one made you feel ashamed for asking a question … It was nice to meet other people from around the world and see how they do things.
“Everyone from around the world comes there and you all have the same interests,” Payne added. “It feels like seeing your cousin for the first time in years.”
Now that he’s officially a lieutenant, Payne is ready for his future at the station.
“It feels good to show young kids that yes, you can do this, and you can still go to school,” he stated. “Yes, it can be difficult sometimes, but everyone puts their all in to be able to serve our community.”
