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Getting to Know the Family at Station #4
It’s a dream for many women to spend a day in a firehouse. For this author, I will never forget my day of getting to know the incredible servicemen at Station #4 in Peachtree Corners.
As I sat down with them, they were receiving calls and requests. One man walked in asking for jumper cables and was back on his way within minutes. Your local Fire Department really does it all! In fact, when Station #4 was demolished by the tornado in 1998, the crew continued to work out of a trailer in the parking lot.
In the wake of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and Fire Prevention Week, observed during the first week of October, it’s time you get to know your local firefighters / lifesavers / superheroes.
Busy heroes
Station #4 is one of the busiest fire stations in the county. In fact, Adam D’Alessandro said that some nights, he ends up sleeping on the truck. Last year during COVID, they didn’t even see a drop in calls, just a change in the types of calls they received.
D’Alessandro has been at Station #4 for a year and a half. He didn’t originally want to be a firefighter; instead, he started out in the Gwinnett County Parks and Rec department, in the aquatics sector.
He said that in all the years he would have an emergency and need to call 911, Station #4 would always show up to the pool, so he got used to working with the people he would later call his family.
In case our readers are wondering who answered the call for the “runaway pig” story that swept the nation, Captain Brian Rogers remembers it well. The pigs were on their way to a robotics arm lab to be tested under robot arm surgery before the truck carrying them flipped. He stated that, “that isn’t the only highway runaway animal call we have gotten.”
Captain Rogers lives up to his Marvel superhero name — Captain America’s “secret” identity is Captain Steve Rogers — and maintains that firefighters are humble individuals who don’t like talking to people about themselves and aren’t looking for praise. Still, firefighters are “ordinary people who do extraordinary things.”
Captain Rogers has been at Station #4 since 2015, and he has been a firefighter for Gwinnett County since 1998, so he has seen a change in the types of calls firefighters are responsible for.
“Whoever thought back then that this would be a thing?” he asked, looking back over the many ways the fire department has changed — from fires to EMS to hazmat, then terrorism, and now pandemics and whatever else may come along.
In fact, when he graduated from college, through the firefighter college tuition reimbursement program, one of the papers he wrote was titled, “When the UFOs land, the Fire Department will be the first to arrive.”
As the list of tasks for your neighborhood firefighter gets longer, Captain Rogers has noticed a generational change. The younger generations seem to put more value on being with their families and loved ones than trying to supplement their income with another side job.
Did you know that firefighters work an average of 800 more hours a year than the average American? And most members of the department have young children to go home to and care for once their shifts are over.
Captain Rogers said he thinks it’s because the younger generations watched their parents work hard and dump everything into their jobs, only to have it ripped away in the crash of 2008. He likes to say that “they aren’t in it for the income, they are in it for the outcome.”
More members of the family
Isaac Smith, aka “Tiny Tim,” aka “The Rookie,” knows that he’s part of the family, even though he has only been part of Station #4 for a few months. Smith is fresh out of the academy, having completed “Fire 1 and EMT training,” and looking to go back to school for “Fire 2” shortly. He said that he got into becoming a firefighter because “you get to serve the public and get paid. They also take physical fitness very seriously.”
This author was there to witness the firefighters putting on their full gear and oxygen masks just to work out in the gym! Smith loves the opportunity to work with such a close-knit group, and he has made it his priority to learn and gain experience while “learning his new family.”
When asked whether firefighters really are good cooks, Smith assured me that if you don’t go into the fire department being a good cook, you will certainly leave as one.
Travis Button is one such great cook, and apparently being the “Truck Tailboard” means you also have to be the best chef. Like the front position in a bobsled, Button “has to work harder than anyone; he is the first one to show up, and the last to leave.”
Button checks every inch of the firetruck at the beginning of his shift. He has been hand chosen as the eyes and ears at the back of the truck, and he is the one who cooks and cleans for his crew at the end of his shift. Button said that his biggest struggle, since joining Station #4 a year and a half ago has been “not letting the job become your life.” With over 1700 hours of overtime under his belt, that can’t be easy.
Button has his paramedic certification, on top of his Fire 1 & 2, and EMT certifications, which means he has the highest non-hospital medical certification you can get. He mused that the funniest call he ever got was the “gas leak” they investigated that turned out to be a litterbox.
Brian Gaeth had been a firefighter for 11 years for the Gwinnett County Fire Department. Just two months ago, he transitioned into his role as Public Information Officer. Gaeth handles breaking news requests from the press and social media presence. He said the biggest struggle from the past year was navigating the nuances associated with COVID, since a fire department is essentially a family unit, and they spend the same amount of time together as a real family.
Working closely with the Gwinnett County Communications Department, Gaeth is gearing up for Fire Prevention Week and just got finished coordinating for Gwinnett Fire to observe the 9/11 anniversary at the Gwinnett County Fallen Heroes Memorial, where they can be found every year.
Keith Fitzpatrick, who is the current Lieutenant for the C-shift at Station #4, opened up about some of the less gratifying parts of the job. Fitzpatrick has worked at Station #4 for a year and a half. Before that he earned nine years of experience as a medic.
He is a member of the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) program, which offers regular counseling to help combat the trauma that firefighters are exposed to. The organization meets with firefighters who have experienced extreme emotional strain in hopes of preventing depression and suicide.
Fitzpatrick spoke of the firefighter gene that ran in his family. At the age of 17, he got to go on his first ride-along with his cousin. His father begged him not to become a firefighter, knowing how dangerous the job was. But, he said, years later his dad came around when he saw how much the job meant to him.
Captain Rogers let me in on a Station #4 tradition: whoever is featured in the press has to buy ice cream for the rest of the crew. Well, guys, looks like you’re having an ice cream party this week!
What you need to know about Fire Prevention Week
According to Adam D’Alessandro, “Families need to make a plan, especially families with young kids. And don’t forget that we install smoke detectors for you for free.”
Keith Fitzpatrick added, “This Fire Prevention Week will focus on knowing the sounds of fire safety. If your smoke detector is beeping, have the batteries replaced. If the fire alarm is going off, don’t think it is a drill, just get outside.”
Annual multi-genre convention celebrating Japanese anime, American animation, comics and gaming sets new record with 59,222 attendees
— Article updated May 29, 2025
Atlanta welcomed nearly 60,000 fans of cosplay, comics, gaming, anime and music over the four-day Memorial Day weekend — all meeting up at the Georgia World Congress Center to celebrate MomoCon 2025 and its 20th year in the city.
One of the fastest growing, all-ages conventions in the country, this year’s numbers topped the 56,000 guests that attended in 2024, and was estimated by the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau to have a $42.2 million impact on the metro area.
Equally important, the buzzing enthusiasm and pure joy of the weekend, from both attendees and featured guests, was unmatched. Everyone seemed to be having an incredible time. And plans are already in the works for an even more impressive — and expanded — MomoCon experience in 2026.
Organizers say they are expanding into both Hall A and Hall B next year, increasing the total space to a massive 1,045,178 square feet for exhibits and gaming. The team is already hard at work planning amazing new guests and activities for MomoCon’s 21st year.
Registration for next year’s event is already open, with early-bird discounts for fans who want to lock their passes in early.
Giving back to the community
In addition to the money brought into the city and to the convention itself, MomoCon chooses a charity each year in which to support with donations. Funds are raised through sales of specialty merchandise and custom events that have donation elements built in.
The 2025 official charity was the Johnson STEM Activity Center. MomoCon raised more than $5,000 for the center and contributed an additional $7,500 in matching funds, bringing the total donation to $12,500. MomoCon organizers also worked with 11 Atlanta-area, youth-serving nonprofits to give back by bringing more than 900 kids in need to the convention.
Nonprofits receiving tickets this year included Scouting America, Horizons Atlanta, ReImagine ATL, the New Media Education Foundation of Georgia, Purpose Possible, Lekotek, Focus, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlanta, Wellroot Family Services and the YMCA.
Fan-favorite comic book artists
Comic book artists (and original members of the former Atlanta-based Gaijin Studios), Cully Hamner and Brian Stelfreeze made their first appearances at MomoCon this year, invited to attend and show off their work in the Artist Alley.
Fans lined up to meet them, along with fellow award-winning artist and longtime friend, Wade von Grawbadger, to get photos, autographs and artwork and spend a few minutes chatting with the guys.
Hamner talked briefly about an upcoming project, “Ruby Actual” that he’s doing with Greg Rucka. “Not sure when it will come out,” he said, “But we’re hoping first quarter 2026.”
In the meantime, comic fans can continue to enjoy his previous work — the acclaimed, creator-owned RED (which was adapted into two films), the current Blue Beetle (also adapted to film) and all of the other work he’s done for DC, Marvel and other publishers over the last 30 years.
They can also look forward to his return to MomoCon in the future if schedules work out.
“This has been a lot of fun,” Hamner said on Sunday, the last day of the convention. “I’d love to come back if they invite me again.”
Stelfreeze agreed. “I enjoyed [MomoCon],” he said. “I really liked seeing the younger audience.”
That definitely seemed true on Sunday, as the crowds had thinned out some and Stelfreeze had more time to hang out and talk with people who stopped by the Essential Sequential booth. With some fans, he spent ten minutes or more discussing art, comics and other topics, and even came out from behind the table at times to meet people and say hi to old friends.
Featured guests
Other featured guests also drew long lines of fans who were eager to meet their favorite creators.
Darryl McDaniels (from RunDMC and now a comic book and children’s book author), Greg Burnham (Norcross-based comic book writer known for his indie comic hits), Reed Shannon and Mick Wingert (voice actors and stars of Netflix’s “Arcane”), Ryō Horikawa (Japanese voice of Vegeta in “Dragon Ball Z”), veteran voice actor and producer, Chris Sabat, and online personalities such as Damien Haas were just a few of the standouts.
In fact, as the convention was winding down on Sunday afternoon, Haas’ fan line was still so long, the crowd filled multiple rows of the cordoned-off autograph area, both inside and outside of his designated line.
A full list of 2025 celebrity guests can be found here.
New for 2025
While most of the fun features of MomoCon 2025 were returning favorites — Artist Alley, Exhibitor’s Hall, panels, movie screenings and the cosplay showcase —convention organizers kept things fresh with a new theme (‘90s Retro) and a few new highlights, including a skating rink, an expanded online gaming area and the return of the“Bring Your Own Computer” space.
Workshops on everything from miniature painting and D&D to Gunpla modeling, as well as live performances and a massive vendor area and fan car showcase rounded out the exciting weekend.
Though tired from a whirlwind weekend of geek culture camaraderie and large (but super friendly) crowds, we can’t wait to see what MomoCon has in store for 2026.
For more about MomoCon, visit momocon.com.
More moments from 2025; photos courtesy of MomoCon
Although crime isn’t on the rise, and the Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD) is fulfilling its role in fighting crime, the City of Peachtree Corners is asking residents, business owners and city stakeholders if they believe the city should form its own police department.
With over 100 people in attendance, City Manager Brian Johnson led the discussion about the future of policing in Peachtree Corners. He presented the findings from a survey conducted by the Center for Public Safety Management (CPSM), a nationally-recognized law enforcement consulting and training firm, as well as information about patrol officer staffing, response times, costs to tax payers and a potential timeline.
Ensuring public safety
Johnson kicked off his presentation by explaining that it is the duty of the mayor and city council to ensure public safety, including reviewing law enforcement.
“Maybe it needs to grow, maybe it needs to change its focus. But city council is the one that has the decision-making responsibility,” he said.
He was also adamant that this isn’t a done deal.
“I hit this point already, but I want to hit it again. This is the start of a conversation, a community conversation and feedback to council. There hasn’t been a decision,” he said. “Council has not received this presentation from me. They’re here to watch and learn from your feedback of this.”
Mayor Mike Mason was present at the meeting, along with all of the city council members except Eric Christ who was out of town and watching remotely.
Issues and obstacles
Johnson explained that the grounds for the inquiry were based on issues about communication, access to information and enforcement of city-specific ordinances. He cited an example where a city rule that private residences can’t be rented on a short-term basis like Vrbo or Airbnb wasn’t enforced by GCPD. An owner tried to circumvent the ordinance by only renting the outside of the house. A loud pool party ensued, and frustrated neighbors dialed 911.
“Officers showed up and they said, ‘We can’t enforce the city’s noise ordinance,’” Johnson said.
The first stage to fix this problem was creating the marshal program to bridge the gap between code enforcement and GCPD.
“[We thought] they would be able to enforce both local ordinance and state law, since they are a function of the city, and they could maybe be a force multiplier for Gwinnett since [marshals] don’t have to respond to 911 calls,” said Johnson.
But other issues arose shortly after the department was formed.
“We were still working towards getting that good balance, but we have been faced recently with a couple of things that make it harder for us,” said Johnson.
Seeking shared access
Instead of GCPD giving PTC marshals read-only, quick access to incident reports, dispatch calls and other information, the marshals department was required to file open records requests through the same process as any civilian.
“They were denied, as well as the city of Sugar Hill, [when] asked for the ability to see, not change, but see the computer-aided dispatch information, so that they would know where Gwinnett County police officers were; so that they could avoid stepping on their toes or maybe looking to support their efforts, and they haven’t been granted that,” said Johnson.
He added that the GCPD has video cameras on certain roadways that are used for various reasons, and law enforcement can use them when there’s crime in the area. Peachtree Corners marshals were denied access to those cameras.
“Conversely, we have a couple hundred cameras in the city, and we definitely want them to have access to them,” said Johnson. “So the frustration out of not being able to get that symbiosis between the marshals and police made us start thinking, all right, you know, is there another option?”
Community feedback
CPSM utilized data from GCPD to discern if Peachtree Corners could feasibly stand its own force. It also took into consideration crime trends, costs and many other factors. It recommended a 55-officer department, costing $12.1 million annually, with a $2.2 million upfront cost.
Comparing the two options to “renting vs. owning” the primary law enforcement agency in the city, Johnson presented pros and cons for each. Once the question-and-answer portion began, there was no obvious choice. Men and women, young and more advanced in age, had both similar and differing opinions.
One young man, who identified himself as a local small business owner named Alexander, argued that with artificial intelligence increasing the efficiency of administrative tasks, perhaps the city wouldn’t need a full 68-man department of civilians and sworn officers.
Some accused the city of devising a solution in need of a problem. Others were concerned that paying approximately $100,00 for a study was throwing good money after bad.
But at the end of it all, the city is continuing to seek feedback and is encouraging everyone to make informed decisions. The meeting was taped and is available on the city website along with Johnson’s PowerPoint presentation, a copy of the study done by CPSM and a survey.
As far as a timeline goes, city officials would like folks to take the summer to mull it over and come back in the fall to take another look at the proposal.
From Boardrooms to the Himalayas: Vandana’s Journey to Purpose and Growing with Intention [Podcast]
Guardians of the Jukebox to Play the VoxStage on May 31
“Geek Culture” Shines at 2025 MomoCon
Brandon Branham Honored for Transformative Leadership in Peachtree Corners
Music Matters Productions Expands Peachtree Corners Headquarters
Celebration and Community: ICAGeorgia Wraps Up School Year with Two Festive Events
Vox-Pop-Uli Launches RED Initiative for Veterans’ Support
The PCBA Awards $500 to Light Up The Corners at After-Hours Event
Vox-Pop-Uli Launches RED Initiative for Veterans’ Support
The PCBA Awards $500 to Light Up The Corners at After-Hours Event
“Geek Culture” Shines at 2025 MomoCon
Celebration and Community: ICAGeorgia Wraps Up School Year with Two Festive Events
Guardians of the Jukebox to Play the VoxStage on May 31
Music Matters Productions Expands Peachtree Corners Headquarters
Brandon Branham Honored for Transformative Leadership in Peachtree Corners
From Boardrooms to the Himalayas: Vandana’s Journey to Purpose and Growing with Intention [Podcast]
Light up the Corners [Video]
Capitalist Sage: Business Leadership in Your Community [Podcast]
Cliff Bramble: A Culinary Adventure through Italy
Top 10 Brunch Places in Gwinnett County
A Hunger for Hospitality
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The ED Hour: What it takes to Remove Barriers from Education
