The Student Firefighters of DHS
NEIRAD enilno edition
The room quickly becomes filled with smoke. Flames spread inside the walls ultimately engulfing the entire home. Suddenly, a siren blares. Firefighters rush on the scene with modern equipment and substantial manpower. Included in this crew of firefighters are five of Darien High School’s own junior year students: Scott Plank, Stephen Wildish, Peter Steinegger, Holden Chung, and Jamie Condolora. Each of these Darien High School juniors volunteers at one of the three fire departments in Darien: Noroton Fire Department (near Hindley School), Darien Fire Department (near Post Corner Pizza), and Noroton Heights Fire Department (near McGuane Field). Their voluntary contributions to these fire departments help to ensure the safety of the citizens of Darien.
Ron Riolo, Chief of Noroton Heights Fire Department explains that, “There are three fire departments in town which are 100% volunteer. Noroton Heights Fire Department has approximately 50 active firefighters.” Darien depends heavily on its volunteers to fight fires.
Scott Plank, who began to volunteer at the Noroton Heights Fire Department in July of 2010, is one of these 50 active volunteers. While last year was Plank’s first time volunteering at the fire department, he has been involved in the fire department since childhood. Fire fighting has been a family tradition in the Plank family. Plank’s uncle, father and grandfather have all been fire department chiefs. As a result, Plank spent much of his time as a child at the fire department. According to Riolo, “Noroton Heights Fire Department has the Plank Family, McEwan family and Orawsky family. There are also firefighters that have had family member in the fire service or still do but elsewhere.”
“Being fire fighters brought my family closer together. It serves as a common ground for all of us. I consider the fire department a second home,” explains Plank. Plank has known most of the firefighters at Noroton Heights Fire Department all his life and therefore enjoys spending time at the fire department.
Meanwhile, Wildish first became involved with the Darien Fire Department at the end of last summer. Wildish explains that he had “always wanted to join some volunteer department in order to give back to the community.” Wildish serves as a probationary firefighter. This means that he is not granted full firefighter privileges until he is 18, at which time he will be allowed to ride on the first truck to Interstate 95 calls and to enter burning buildings. Wildish has already assisted on over 50 calls during his six months as a firefighter. He carries a pager similar to the pager used by Post 53 volunteers to alert him to calls. However, Wildish is never on duty during school hours. Juniors cannot park cars at school to leave for a call but as seniors they’ll be able to leave school for highway calls and structure fire calls.
“Seeing the reaction on a homeowner’s face once you have helped to save their home, and ultimately their lives is incredibly rewarding,” said Wildish. Wildish’s most memorable call was a fire on Sunset Road in Darien. He received the call at 8:17 pm. Wildish was 3rd on the hose team that night in the rear of the house. While the house was destroyed and the homeowner’s dog perished in the fire, Wildish and his fellow volunteers were able to save a portrait of the dog for the homeowner.
Fellow junior firefighter, Peter Steinegger, joined the Noroton Heights Fire Department last December. He was encouraged to volunteer by his classmate, Scott Plank. Steinegger explains that one must be at least 16 years old in order to join a volunteer fire department in Darien. The majority of his colleagues at the fire department are in their mid 20s to late 30s. While there is no preparatory course required for joining the fire department, there are weekly drills that must be attended. Here the volunteers practice active fire maintenance at the drill tower next to the Darien dump.
“We do in house training and also send our members to state certified classes. In house training is our officers running drills and scenarios at either the firehouse or drill tower. We do all our live fire training and motor vehicle extrication drills at the drill tower which is located at the town dump,” says Riolo.
Steinegger’s most memorable fire was his first fire where he set up the fans and other equipment and helped to save the possessions inside the home. All firefighters are fully equipped with a coat, pants, boots, helmet, gloves, flashlights, hoods and masks that are worn on all of the calls.
Volunteering at the fire departments in Darien has proven to be an incredible experience for these Darien High School juniors. “I never thought that I’d be doing so much so soon. Within two months I was at my first fire,” describes Wildish. Steinegger further explains that, “It is a ton of responsibility from the start. The expectations are high but it is very rewarding.”
The Darien Fire Departments have been very successful in keeping our town safe. According to Riolo, “Noroton Heights Fire Department has responded to 28 fire alarms, one brush fire, 14 carbon monoxide incidents, 9 motor vehicle accidents, 27 instances of mutual aid to the other two departments’ districts, and 5 miscellaneous calls so far this year. We have had approximately eight fires this year.”
The success of these volunteer fire departments is due in part to the excellent volunteer work of our own Darien High School students. Riolo explains that the Darien High School students, “Add extra hands and support at the firehouse and at incidents. For example, at an incident they are the ones either grabbing tools off the trucks or helping with outside operations at a fire.”
Not only are five juniors making a difference in our community, but they are enjoying themselves at the same time. “It is honestly addicting. Once you go to one fire, you’re hooked. It never gets old,” explains Wildish.
