The flames were high at the Onset Fire Department on Sunday afternoon, but the firefighters made no move to put them out. Instead, they used them to grill meat -- and lots of it.

The Onset Fire Department cookout was headed by Onset Fire Chief and cookout grill master Ray Goodwin, who, armed with tongs, battled the flames that licked and curled around the edges of burgers and hot dogs with dexterity.

Though the department regularly has cookouts for its members, Goodwin this was the first cookout for members of fire departments in surrounding areas, as well as Onset firefighters. Members of the Wareham Police Department, emergency medical personnel, and personnel from the Harbormaster’s Office also floated in and out of the cookout.

Goodwin said putting on a cookout like this one is important, because it emphasizes the family element of the station, as well as the profession. He said sharing food is a big part of firefighting.

“Even if people are off-duty, officers will come in and eat at lunch time,” Goodwin said. “The only quiet time at a fire station is when they are putting food in their mouth.”

Goodwin sees the fire station as a big family, and said the kids of one firefighter are essentially the children of the entire department. Goodwin became a firefighter at a mere 15 years old -- and he still remembers coming in as a swaggering teenager, who believed he knew everything, to quickly realizing he knew nothing.

“It kept [me] out of trouble,” Goodwin said. “The people that raised me, I am now helping them raise their children. It’s a circle of life kind of thing.”