Zachary firefighters, in between fighting fires, rescuing people and staying current on mandatory training, have a bit of downtime between calls.

Of that very small window of downtime, four firefighters from the ZFD's Shift C decided to make the most of that time by being productive and planting a garden.

"We thought of a project we could do together that would build crew integrity and relations," said Chris Lawton. "Besides, it's a very therapeutic and relaxing hobby that can ease the occasional stress related to the profession."

Last April, Chris Lawton, Stephen Hunt, Bryan Henderson and Danny Riefer, planted a garden of tomatos, banana peppers, eggplant, snap beans, squash, green onions, and bell peppers. Or so they thought.

What the men thought were bell peppers were actually mislabeled habanero peppers, one of the more intensely spicy species of chili peppers.

"We had no idea until the garden began producing that we had the wrong kind of peppers. We even had cayenne peppers mixed in with the habanero peppers!" said Riefer.

"Needless to say we have the hottest garden around," joked Henderson, which he said was completely appropriate.

Firefighter Lawton said since the men cook at the station all the time planting vegetables they could use in their dishes was a no-brainer.