Are you a member of your home-town fire department? Do you have training in firefighting operations and life-saving CPR? Would you be interested in using those skills while attending WPI as a student? An opportunity is available to you!
The West Auburn Fire Station is looking for new members. Located in Auburn, MA, just south of Worcester, and staffed entirely by WPI students, this fire station provides a unique opportunity to students involved with emergency services.
The station, owned and operated by the Town of Auburn, is one of two fire stations which house the town's firefighting force. The station was originally opened and staffed in the late 1980's by the town's regular force of paid-call firefighters. However, budget cuts and manpower shortages forced the town to shut the station down about three years after it opened. Without the station at the west end of town, the level of fire protection in the western end of Auburn was reduced, as fire apparatus and firefighting personnel had to respond a longer distance from Fire Department Headquarters, located in the eastern end of town.
In late 1992, Rich Pehrson, a current doctoral student in WPI's Fire Protection Engineering program, approached the fire chief of Auburn with a suggestion as to how to reopen the West Auburn Fire Station with virtually no additional cost to the town. WPI students would staff the fire station, Pehrson proposed, in return for free housing. The idea was accepted enthusiastically by the town and by the fire department. Following the signing of agreements with the fire department union and the town, the station was reopened in the fall of 1993, staffed entirely by WPI students. This arrangement continues to this day, providing a winning situation for all involved and affected by the program. The students live at the station at minimal cost to themselves, the fire department benefits from the increased manpower, and residents at the western end of town can rest more easily with the knowledge that fire department services are much closer at hand whenever needed. Students in the program gain practical experience in firefighting, and opportunities are also available to get involved with the fire department's training program, dive team, and fire inspection services.
Currently, the station is staffed by seven WPI students who are all enrolled in the school's Fire Protection Engineering (FPE) program: Rich Pehrson, Scott Heyworth, Bob Sullivan, Mike Dell'Orfano, Nate Wittasek, Dave Smith, and Steve Gosselin. In addition, two other FPE students, Jake Nunnemacher and Dave Jacoby, who are both currently away on internship, will return to the station by January, 1997. Most of these students had several years of firefighting experience with their home-town fire departments prior to coming to WPI. The program at the fire station is not a school-sponsored arrangement, although it has the full support of the school.
Several of the current members of the station will be graduating within the next year, a few by this coming May, and the Auburn Fire Department is eager to recruit new members to maintain the level of staffing at the station. In order to qualify to join the program, candidates must be enrolled as students at WPI, be a current or previous member of another fire department (such as your home-town department), and have a level of firefighting training equal to the provisions of NFPA 1001, Firefighter I certification. Candidates must complete a fire department application, and successfully complete a department interview, physical, and written and practical tests. Overnight stays at the West Auburn Fire Station are highly recommended before joining the program. This provides candidates with the opportunity to get a first-hand look at how the program operates, meet the other students involved, and learn more about the Auburn Fire Department.
The Auburn Fire Department serves a population of approximately 15,000 people in an area of just over 15 square miles. The department is made up of four full-time firefighters, thirty call firefighters, seven student firefighters, and eight pieces of apparatus. The department responds to approximately 500 fire calls per year. The students in the West station operate two of the department's attack pumpers and the brush unit, in addition to driving the boat and truck for the department's dive unit. The student firefighters take part in the regular monthly training sessions of the department, and occasionally hold supplementary in-house training sessions. Many opportunities are also available to attend training programs offered on a regular basis at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy located in nearby Stow, MA.
To learn more about this unique opportunity, and to obtain an Auburn Fire Department application, please contact Bob Sullivan at the West Auburn Fire Station at either 832-0754 or 832-7802, or via email at the following address: rsulli@wpi.edu. Interested persons should be aware that the application process can take up to two months to complete, and should therefore submit applications as soon as possible. Visitors are always welcome, and overnight visits can be arranged. The station is located at 7 West Street in Auburn. Candidates applying for the program will be reviewed by the recruiting committee and placed on the list in order by the date on which their application is received.
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