Charles Carey

This month’s Pit Boss Hero is a first responder with a passion for barbecue and helping others. Join us in recognizing our May Hero, Charles Carey! Charles has served the past 7 years as a firefighter, paramedic, and hazmat technician in Florida. “I chose this career to help people,” he said. “I felt that by choosing this career, I'm helping make the world a better place. If I can treat every person with kindness, hopefully the kindness begins a trend and carries on to others.” And that isn’t something Charles just says – his work in the field backs it up. In fact, he has been awarded a Medal of Valor after saving a woman’s life during a house fire. “I'm always an advocate for the patient/victim, and I continuously treat every civilian as if they were my own family member,” he said. When he’s off duty, you can typically find Charles firing up the Pit Boss to cook for family and friends. He’s also quite the active competition barbecuer. Charles has competed with the Steak Cookoff Association and in the World Championship of steak cooking in Ft. Worth, Texas. He’s earned the nickname of “the Steak Guy” among his peers. Since then, he has also taken on multiple cooking competitions with his Local 3169 Union for fundraisers, winning a King of the Wing competition and a recent Chili Cook-off. “Cooking helps me decompress and provides me with the satisfaction of making others happy in normal situations, rather than what I can do during life-or-death situations,” Charles said. Thank you for your service, Charles!