Some guys go for the romantic candlelit dinner to pop the question, but if you’re a Powell fireman, you opt for a little more candle-power.

Geoff Hovivian’s romantic, but totally unorthodox, approach to a marriage proposal to Jennifer Tippetts will be a narrative they’ll share with their children.

Hovivian, Powell Valley Hospital EMT and Powell Volunteer Fire Department firefighter, proposed to Tippetts, executive director of the Powell Medical Foundation, amid twirling emergency lights and smiling hospital staff at, of course, Powell Valley Hospital.

A false alarm was staged at the hospital, and naturally a fire department crew showed up, with Hovivian leading in full firefighter gear. Most in the hospital were wise to Hovivian’s romantic ruse, except for Tippetts, who was standing in the hallway wondering what the heck was going on.

Hovivian knelt on one knee in the standard pop-the-question stance.

“I love you with all my heart,” Hovivian said. “Will you marry me?”

“Oh my God. Yes!” she said, her hand over her heart.

Tippetts’ assent was greeted by a heartfelt round of applause by hospital staff.

Hovivian slid the engagement ring on Tippetts’ finger and the couple hugged and kissed. Then Hovivian and Tippetts exchanged hugs with numerous well-wishers.

“You sure know how to make an entrance,” Tippetts said to her brand new fiancé.

Afterward, Tippetts walked down the hallway, back to her office.

“Oh my gosh, my heart is still racing,” she said. “I’m just shaking!”

Along the way, people stopped to congratulate her. Tippetts’ question to each of them was the same: “Were you in on this?”

With few exceptions, they smiled and said, “Yes, I was.”

“We were all standing right over there,” a co-worker said, pointing around the hallway corner.

“I can’t believe how many people he had in on it!” Tippetts exclaimed. “It’s amazing he was able to keep it a secret.”

It was a four-alarm romance too.

When Tippetts moved to Powell from Denver in December, the first guy she met was Hovivian.

Tippetts had just accepted the job of administrative assistant for the chief executive officer for Powell Valley Healthcare, and the first thing on her list of things to do was getting her drug test.

“Geoff actually took drug tests. So that’s super romantic,” she joked, rolling her eyes. “He was literally the first guy that I met in Powell. They did all my interviewing over the Internet.

“On my first day of work he asked me out, and our first date was the Fire Department Christmas Party. ... I’m like, ‘Sure, that will be a good way to start (my life in Powell).’”

After that, “He kept saying, ‘You’re my girlfriend; you’re my girlfriend,’” Tippetts said. Though she wasn’t sure yet what to think, “I was like, ‘I guess I’m OK with this.’”

Soon, however, there was no question. The couple has spent much of their time since then together, and Tippetts likes it that way — a lot.

“He’s amazing,” she said Wednesday. “I’m lucky to have him.”