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Volume CXXXII, Number 10 |
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Student fire fighters fight fires fiercely
ANN SULLIVAN
STAFF WRITER
Q: What was your motivation to be a fire fighter?
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| Bowdoin's boys in beige after responding to a call. (Courtesy of Todd Williams) |
Todd Williams: I took a year off after high school and after traveling I worked in a bike shop. There was a fire station right next to us and one day the lieutenant came in and asked if anyone wanted to go on a ride-along and I was like "Yes…sign me up!" After that I went in one night and hung out with the guys, it was like a big fraternity-I got to hang out with them, we made dinner, washed the fire engines-it was the coolest thing ever. The first call I remember jumping into the engine and going to the scene watching everyone scramble to get their gear on, the sirens were wailing, the lights were flashing-everyone knew their job right away and it was so cool watching everyone put out the fire and work together as a team to accomplish a goal. It seemed like something that I would be totally into. I came home and told my parents I was going to the fire academy instead of Bowdoin…they disagreed.
Travis Brennan: Ever since I was a little kid I've always thought that fire trucks were the coolest things in the world; they have flashing lights and make loud noises. Then at the end of my freshman year I decided that the fire department was something that I was really interested in and that I wanted to become a fire fighter in some capacity. So, I became an intern for the Portland fire department and started doing work with them like ride-a-longs where I would go on all the calls and also started doing fire education in the Portland school system. It was all really really fun, so naturally from that I decided why not become a member of the Brunswick Fire Department.
Q: What type of training is involved in your job?
Williams: As a volunteer fire fighter in Brunswick, in order to be able to do building entry and wear an air pack you have to go through a six-month class and Travis and I both took the class last semester here. It went from January to June and we would meet every other Sunday learning all sorts of stuff-from looking at building construction to learning how to put on an air pack to fire attack and some emergency medical stuff. So there are six months of certification classes you have to go through in order to be Fire Fighter I certified.
Q: How many volunteer fire fighters does Brunswick have, and are you and Travis the only ones from Bowdoin?
Williams: Yes. We are the only volunteer fire fighters from Bowdoin right now, but Brunswick has about 30 volunteer fire fighters and 24 full-time ones. They usually have openings for more volunteers.
Q: Do you have the same capabilities as the full-time fire fighters?
Williams: Basically we can do everything except for drive and pump the engines.
Q: How often do you have organized meetings?
Brennan: For the call department here in Brunswick we have one monthly meeting-the first Monday of every month. Then the third Monday of every month we do a training of some sort. But for example, this month a building opened up for us to burn down, so we have had three trainings this and a monthly meeting this month.
Q: How does the fire station contact you in an emergency?
Williams: I wear a beeper. I turn it off in class, but definitely if it is a class that I don't want to be in I might turn it on and be like "sorry I've gotta go."
Q: Are you on call twenty-four hours?
Brennan: The call department is pretty much voluntary on what calls you want to respond to and what ones you don't. I choose to keep my pager on 24 hours a day unless there's some reason I can't, like if I go to a movie or am out of range, but generally when I am in Brunswick I am ready to go to any call, because the worst thing I could ever imagine happening is turning off my beeper for a few minutes and missing a fire.
Q: How many hours a week time commitment is this for you?
Brennan: It really varies. Some weeks maybe go by and you really don't do anything at all, you just kind of sit back and look at your equipment, but then one week you can get a bunch of calls. If you get a fire generally, a good fire, you can be working from eleven at night till four-thirty in the morning-and that is just one call. I'd say average on it works out to be maybe three hours a week.
Q: What other activities do you do?
Williams: I'm big into surfing and I'm also involved in organizing the EMT class here along with being a proctor.
Q: What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
Williams: Saving babies from burning buildings-Backdraft style….no really, I would say one of the best parts is the open house down at the fire station every year during fire prevention week. They have hundreds of kids from all over Brunswick come in and look at the engines and climb all over them. We give them balloons and they slide down the fire pole and have a great time-so I think that is one of the most fulfilling parts for me…the community interaction. I would also say that seeing someone who is truly thankful for you being there, whether it is a fire or any medical emergency-feeling like you can put your knowledge to use in order to help someone and see them turn out for the better because of it, is really fulfilling I would say.
Q: Do you have a dangerous story?
Brennan: There are two dangerous stories I guess I have. One came in the first fire Todd and I went into last year. That was the first time I had been in a real fire and just walking around was dangerous-there was holes in the floor, you can't see anything because you are wearing your mask, and you really realize how kind of precarious your situation is. Another dangerous story, more on a medical side, when I was riding along down in Portland we went into a domestic violence situation. The ambulance pulled up and there were cops there and this lady came running out of the house screaming that he had choked them and that he had a gun and stuff like that-so that was definitely a tension filled situation until the police took charge.
Q: Do you see any future here?
Williams: I'm planning on going back home to Portland, Oregon in February to test for a fire agency there and in May I think Portland, Maine is offering a test too-so after college I would love to work for a fire department, maybe even go into fire administration.
Brennan: Yeah, I mean it's hard. You go to Bowdoin, and Bowdoin is definitely not the ideal school to train to be a fire fighter. It isn't known for producing fire fighters it is known for producing business men and women and lawyers and such, but with the experiences I have had with the fire departments I am really interested in and plan on doing some of the test at the fire departments to continue my interest.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
Williams: We don't get cats down from trees.
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