Students serve community as volunteer firefighters, EMTs
While some students go home to study or participate in student organizations after class, a select group are running into burning buildings and providing life-saving medical care to victims of car accidents.
About 23 students at USD volunteer their time as part-time firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) with the Vermillion Fire and EMS Department.
Shannon Draper, chief of the Vermillion Fire Department, said volunteers are critical to the mission of the department.
“It’s critical that we have these individuals who are committed to getting up in the middle of the night and running calls, to coming to hundreds of hours of training and doing it for free or little wages,” he said.
Draper said in the last year firefighters have responded to about 190 calls, and EMTs have responded to about 900 calls. Draper said firefighters train for 150 hours and EMTs train about 200 hours to be certified. All classes and training is provided free of charge by the department.
“It’s a really good department,” Draper said. “It’s a fun department to be on.”
Luke Crance, a senior biology major who wants to become a physician’s assistant, said he first joined the department in 2013 as an EMT because he wanted to get more experience in medicine and medical care.
“The other thing that is really important to me is being able to help people, and this is absolutely one of those ways that I’m able to, you know, go to bed at night and think to myself, ‘Did I help someone today?’ With this job I can say, ‘Yeah, yeah I did,’” Crance said.
To become an EMT, Crance had to become certified in first aid and CPR. He also had to take a multitude of classes on how to provide proper medical treatment.
Like Crance, junior criminal justice major and volunteer firefighter Emily Brigham said she also had to take many different training and certification classes. She said that she’s never been afraid to run into a burning building.
“I think it’s an adrenaline rush,” she said. “I think it’s awesome.”
On top of being a firefighter, Brigham is also an EMT and a student-athlete for the USD track team. Balancing all of her interests can be tough, but Brigham said the time spent on the activities is worth it.
“I’ve always been told that if you really enjoy something you’ll find time to do it so I find time to do everything I enjoy,” she said.
During a recent call to an apartment fire that killed three dogs in Vermillion, Brigham said she was initially working as an EMT before switching to her role as a firefighter.
“They actually pulled me off the ambulance, put me in fire gear and shoved me into the building like ‘Alright, see you later,’” she said.
While the firefighters at the department are all volunteer, EMTs get paid a small wage for when they’re responding to calls. Both the firefighters and the EMTs carry pagers to respond to calls, and EMTS work in 12-hour shifts during the week.
“There might be some nights when I’m on call where I sleep 12 hours, there’s no calls that go out and that’s a good night — for everyone around, that’s a good night,” Crance said. “There might be some nights where I go on at 7 p.m., and I don’t stop doing things until 7 a.m. and then I go to class at 9 a.m.”
Crance said every rewarding job doesn’t come without sacrifices, and he’s willing to give up his time to help others.
“That’s kind of one I’m willing to make and (one) that I’m happy to make,” he said. “I really love what I do here and it’s something that I’m passionate about.”
