Students ‘live their dream’ as firefighters for Town of Elon

Jason Spinos / Reporter

Several Elon students are getting to live their childhood dream. A group of seven students are volunteer firefighters with the Elon Fire Department.

“I’ve been interested ever since I was a kid,” said junior Scott Muthersbaugh, who participates in the program.

Freshman Timothy Anderson agreed.

“I’ve wanted to be a firefighter my whole life,” he said. He first became a volunteer firefighter two years ago in his home state of Pennsylvania. When it was time for Anderson to apply for colleges, he narrowed his choices by eliminating schools without a fire station nearby.

After deciding to apply to be a volunteer firefighter, the Elon students had to go through several steps before being accepted.

The fire station only accepts applications when there are openings for volunteers. A thorough background check of the applicants is conducted and the applicants are put through a number of interviews.

The applicants also have to go through a 90-day probation packet before they can respond to emergencies. During this time, they learn the basics of firefighting and the equipment they will use. However, the volunteers do not learn everything they will need to know in these 90 days.

“It takes a full year to get up to par,” said Assistant Fire Chief Alva Sizmore.

Once accepted as firefighters, they will be on call 24 hours a day. They can turn off their pagers, but they need to answer a certain percentage of calls each year. And volunteers don’t just get the easy jobs.

“We do everything, once we are trained for it,” Anderson said.

In addition to the initial 90-day training period, the fire station holds training classes two nights a month. The volunteers and other members are required to attend 54 hours of training a year.

With such a difficult application process, all that training and the inherent dangers of the job, why do these Elon students want to volunteer?

Anderson and Muthersbaugh both said they love their job, and they agreed on the best things about being a volunteer firefighter: the strong impact firefighters make and the family-type atmosphere of the fire station.

“It gets in their blood once they start doing it,” Sizmore said. “It’s a gift, and they enjoy doing it.”