Ryan is a flight medic splitting his time between our Craig and Steamboat Springs bases and just celebrated two years with Classic.
Ryan grew up in Flagstaff AZ where, ever since he was 18 years old, he can remember seeing ambulances driving by and thinking what a cool, fun, and rewarding career they might lead to. He enrolled in college as a nursing major before deciding that driving fire trucks would be “way cooler than a degree hanging on his wall.”
Ryan moved to Colorado where he began volunteering and fell “head over heels” in love with the industry. He spent the next fifteen years as a firefighter, getting promoted from EMT to paramedic along the way. After years of hard work and experience, Ryan finally got to live his dream of a life in the sky and became a flight medic with Classic.
As a firefighter, Ryan loved watching children’s eyes light up while giving them tours of the fire truck. But today, it’s the firefighters who get excited when he shows them the helicopters that he now gets to call his office in the sky. There’s nothing Ryan loves more about his job than being present and staying connected to the people Classic serves, who sometimes just need a warm blanket and a hug which he’s more than happy to provide.
Today, Ryan lives in Grand Junction CO with his two dogs, Nala and Juniper. They love to camp, run, boat, play fetch, and are even learning how to go on dirt bike rides. You also might find him welding anything from trailers to coffee tables if he’s not in the kitchen, cooking for the base, the firehouse, or even local emergency rooms. Ryan’s “smarter and better looking” brother Tyler is still a firefighter in Grand Junction, proving saving lives runs in the Glassman family!