ELSMERE — The Elsmere Fire Company and the Delmar-Bethlehem Emergency Medical Services, faced with a volunteer shortage, teamed up for an innovative “bunk-in” program to increase its cadre of volunteers. Fire department bunk-ins, including two local college students who are firefighters in their home fire district, exchange up to 20 hours of firefighting services each week for free housing in an apartment building in Delmar owned by the Fire Company.
Four DBEMS bunk-in college student volunteers live in two of the three units in the Fire Company’s multi-unit building. They provide three weekly 12-hour shifts of emergency medical services from 6 p.m.-6 a.m.
The Fire Company and DBEMS say they tap into the Capital Region’s huge pool of college and university students.
“Health care is a growing field, and emergency services is a point of entry for many talented young people,” said Steve Kroll, DBEMS executive director and chief. “Students can get training for careers, and go on to be EMTs, doctors, nurses, microbiologists and other great things in health care.”
Both entities attract talented and committed young men and women to help solve a volunteer crisis felt by emergency service providers nationwide.
Knowing who these students are and why they choose to spend their time chasing fires and riding ambulances may help local emergency services to continue to ease their staffing shortages.
Free rent is a significant factor that makes the program attractive.
“I met one bunk-in’s mother when he was moving out, and she was so thankful for the program and said her son couldn’t have afforded to do what he wanted to do without the program,” said current Fire Company President Brendan Boyle. But, as all the bunk-ins will tell you, money isn’t everything.
Trailblazing young firefighters
Hayden Kothe and Brendan Cooper are fire department bunk-in roommates.
Kothe, 19, an HVCC freshman already has his own business building and restoring classic cars. He is a fourth generation firefighter raised in Shokan, N.Y. His mother, once a paid firefighter with the City of Kingston, was seriously injured on the job when her foot was caught in a fire engine ladder. After having her foot and lower leg amputated, she retired from the department.
“She always reminds me to be careful on the ladder truck,” said Kothe, who is undeterred by her accident.
Cooper, 20, is a University at Albany sophomore, who is also a U.S. Army reservist and majoring in an emergency preparedness program that includes homeland security, cyber security and intelligence. After graduation, he wants to work in law enforcement or be an intelligence analyst in Washington, D.C.
Cooper became a firefighter at age 16 in Pleasantville, N.Y. Kothe was first a junior firefighter at age 13 until he became a member of his home department in Olive, N.Y., at age 16. “It gives me something to do,” he said with a grin.
Both Cooper and Kothe said they participate in the bunk-in program because of the free housing, which could cost up to $15,000 each school year for a room in an apartment or a college dormitory. But they also “just can’t get away from firefighting,” said Kothe. Cooper said that he missed firefighting during his freshman year, so he “gets a lot of satisfaction from this program” in addition to the free housing. He added, “my parents are thrilled about the housing cost savings and I get to keep up with my firefighting.”
“We’re here, and if we get a call in the middle of the night we go,” said Kothe.
Cooper said his Elsmere experience has also broadened his firefighting knowledge by introducing him to different kinds of building structures and tactics. And that also helps his home fire department.
“We get new perspectives and different information and get to take that back to our home department and people like to hear about it,” he said.
Another benefit is “learning so much about independent living that college dorm living doesn’t teach you,” Cooper said.
He said he sometimes misses the “immediacy” of campus life, but believes “the advantages outweigh everything else,” and he still spends time with his friends, most of whom are EMS volunteers. “I’m not really active in the party scene,” he said.
Kothe said that being in the bunk-in program makes doing his school work easier because of the “structure.”
“It forces you to be into your work,” he said. “We can’t be out gallivanting, and if we are here we might as well do our homework.”
Both Cooper and Kothe said the hardest part of the program is keeping straight the Elsmere protocols from their home department protocols.
“Home is different from here and here is different from home, and I have to keep it straight and adapt,” said Kothe, as he recounted attending two “major” fires on his very first night in the program. He described that experience as “interesting.” Undaunted, he tells people about the program and says,”Just do it!”
DBEMS bunk-ins love the community and the cost containment
Currently, four college students – three women and one man – participate in DBEMS’ bunk-in program.
Casey Navin, 21, of Saratoga and a junior at SUNY Albany double majoring in Emergency Management and Spanish is one. Navin became an EMT “to give back to the community that has given me so much.”
Navin joined the bunk-in program this school year and because he has other scholarships that cover his tuition, he attends college free of cost. More than money, he said the bunk-in program gives him an opportunity to learn in-depth about what he is studying, how to engage in emergency services as a team and how to manage stress.
“The opportunity was almost too good to be true,” he said. “Everyone here is passionate about giving back and it is motivating to be in this environment.”
Saving on college costs was a motivating factor as well for DBEMS bunk-in students Brittney Lezcano, 20, a junior from New Jersey studying human biology and medical anthropology at SUNY Albany, and Ashanty Joseph, a SUNY Albany senior double majoring in human biology and psychology from Suffern, N.Y. However, both women, like Navin, agreed that the bunk-in program gives them so much more.
“The bunk-in program gives you the opportunity to learn more about EMS, work with more experienced people and learn a lot,” said Lezcano.
“I’m first generation, so it’s nice to see the financial burden of housing come off,” said Joseph. “It’s a wonderful opportunity, and there should be more programs like this across New York State to help kids who worry about how to pay for school. … It’s an even exchange because we pay with our time.”
Cost saving is just one benefit of the program. For Joseph, “DBEMS is like a second family and everyone is very loving and kind” and the bunk-in house “feels like home.”
As for the house, while parties are forbidden, Lezcano said the “house is beautiful, amazing, perfect and much nicer and safer than people who pay for their apartments, and DBEMS even gave us a starter kit of cleaning supplies.”
“We didn’t expect how much they would give us,” said Lezcano. “In addition to our housing, everything was put in the house for us, and they give us DBEMS merch enough for a wardrobe and if something is broken they fix it in an instant,” said Lozcano. “They take so much care of us.”
All three prefer living in the bunk-in house to life on campus.
“There is less passion in the lifestyle at college,” said Navin. “It’s pretty much all about worrying about going out on weekends and getting work done.”
And, they also all agreed that they are only a 15-minute drive from campus “so we are not missing out on anything by not being there,” said Lezcano. “As a junior, this is important because it helps set my career path and that’s more important to me than doing anything else. I have gained more than I have ever given up.”
Still, being a student and working 12-hour shifts has its challenges.
“I don’t do a full overnight shift before I have class so I am not a zombie going to class,” said Navin. And there are nights when they go without sleep. “Luckily, we’re young so we can come back from that quickly and it adds a level of excitement to the week.”
When asked whether he has ever fallen asleep in class, Navin smiled and said, “I take the Fifth.”
Joseph said sometimes she does need a nap in the squad house and noted that “the couches are really comfortable.”
But Joseph said all the bunk-ins and DBEMS administration agree that school work comes first.
“DBEMS is very flexible with my school work and classes,” Joseph said. “They want to help me grow.”
Navin summarized the personal benefits of the bunk-in program. “I learned more here than in classes so far in this one semester and have grown as a provider, as a person and as a leader.”
And the benefit goes both ways. Both Lezcano and Navin said they would like to continue volunteering with DBEMS after graduation.
“Staying on after graduation is becoming increasingly important to me because so many people here want to give back and it’s infectious,” said Navin.
Anyone interested in applying to the bunk-in programs can go to the DBEMS or Elsmere Fire Department websites for more information.