South Jersey Commentary
The Philadelphia Inquirer
June 14th, 2001
Volunteerism at an early age
Teen firefighters find they learn a lot about themselves by doing.
By Venise Grossmann
A student sits at his desk, waiting to have his quiz returned, when his pager sounds. It's a call to action at a local firehouse, but he is unable to respond to the call. Instead, he wonders how the men he spends 10 to 15 hours a week with are faring.
Many South Jersey high school students volunteer at firehouses, learning how to service the vehicles, fight brush fires, and respond to emergencies.
These students can usually be identified by a T-shirt, sweatshirt or jacket bearing the name of their fire station, or by a pager, a badge or, as a symbol of protection, a Maltese cross hanging from a chain. They wear uniforms only when on call and for drills, funerals and parades.
Many volunteers have relatives who are firefighters, and some plan to continue their involvement in a full-time or volunteer capacity.
Often you can also tell these junior volunteer firefighters by what you see them reading, including magazines such as Firehouse, First Responder and Fire Chief or the Galls catalog.
Some of the more ambitious students are reading books such as Last American Heroes: Today's Firefighters, by Charles W. Sasser; Firefighters A to Z, by Chris L. Demarest; and The Fire Inside: Firefighters Talk About Their Lives, by Steve Delsohn. And, of course, they visit the related Web sites, including Firehouse.com, Firefighting.com, Galls.com, Fire-ems.net, dcfd.com, nyfd.com and njfirefighter.com
In an age when teenagers have been labeled self-centered, why do these teens give their time to public service? Quite simply, "it's fun," said Brian Golle, a West Deptford High School student. He said helping the community and meeting people had also "made me become more mature."
"It teaches you to respect people and learn how to work as a team even though everything doesn't always go the way you want it to," said Scott Tucker, another teen volunteer.
Bernie Korbel said he liked the way that others saw him. "You are looked at as someone unique when little kids see you, and my parents are proud of me," he said.
"I like helping other people in need, saving lives, and learning things now that I will use later on in life," Bryan Stinger said. "You are also around great people."
Brian Weber said he was inspired by Jimmy Heenan, the Verga firefighter who died March 25 of injuries from a West Deptford fire. Heenan, 37, became a volunteer firefighter when he was 17.
There are also women among the volunteers, including Jen Giordano, who said she liked the fact that she was learning self-preservation skills. "You never know if you will make it out of that house alive," she said.
Giordano said she also enjoyed being part of a team. "We are all one big family," she said.
"I respect the female volunteers because there are men who do not even have the courage to fight fires," said Gary Lowell, another volunteer.
The teenagers do concede that there are some negative aspects to being junior volunteer firefighters. They don't enjoy packing hose, putting out brush fires in 90-degree weather, and not being free to respond to calls because they're in class.
Golle and Stinger said they also didn't like having their peers make fun of them for being volunteers when they are putting their lives on the line.
"You are risking your life every time you fight a fire, and you could leave your family members and friends behind," Weber said.
"You are not invincible. You could die at any time," Korbel said.
Paul Richman pointed out that not only do the volunteers put their lives at risk, but that their actions could risk the lives of fellow firefighters.
Stinger said firefighters and other emergency service personal typically did not receive the credit they deserved, and I have to agree.
"When your pager goes off," Stinger said, "you don't have the time to say goodbye to all of the people that you care about, [knowing that] someday somebody will not make it home from a call."