Adventures of a Citizen Firefighter

I am happy to report that one of my childhood dreams to ride in a firetruck will soon become a reality. Last Wednesday I went to my first class in the eight-week Avon Citizens Fire Academy and I simply can’t wait for the next session.

During the program, I will dress up in full firefighter gear (which averages $4,000 to 5,000 per person), shoot water from a hose at a rate of 1,250 gallons per minute, use extrication tools (including an ax and sledgehammer, which will be great for frustration), experience a smoke-filled room, tour Lifestar and actually strap into a seat and go on a ride-along.

I also will learn the ins and outs of the Avon Volunteer Fire Department and what it takes on a daily basis for these brave men and women to do their job. We will be honored at a firehouse dinner in late May, which will be exciting – I hear the food at these events is delicious!

My admiration for firefighters goes way back.  I still remember that long-ago night when I was a child in Cambridge, MA, and my beloved neighborhood church went up in flames. I was scared, and so were my parents. Our apartment, only one street away, had to be hosed down – just in case the fire spread.

The church suffered significant damage, but our apartment was spared.  What remains in my mind, to this day, are two things: the beauty of the flames licking at the moonless sky, and the towering firefighter (I was in pre-school, so all adults towered over me then!) who took a moment to speak to our fearful family to tell us that everything would be okay. And it was.

When I learned about this class, I jumped at the opportunity and the first night exceeded my expectations.

Firefighters Dennis Bianchi and Tom Post were both engaging as we learned about the history of the Avon Volunteer Fire Department, got a tour of the Company One station on Darling Drive and saw the department's equipment.  I must admit that it wasn’t easy hoisting myself onto the pump truck, even though I am “reasonably” fit 54-year-old who has taken up walking in the mornings now that the weather is nicer.

Since there was so much to take in, I’m just going to give you a few highlights:

• The AVFD no longer uses their fire pole.  As Bianchi explained:  “People get hurt. As you get older, you have the tendency to take the stairs, especially in the middle of the night. And it’s brass. We have to polish it.”

• Before breathing apparatuses were designed, firefighters had to rely on their drooping mustaches, which hung down to their bottom lip and served as a filter for the smoke.

• When Don Griswald, of Avon, was 15-years-old, he signed up to help out on fire calls.  A group of boys (who were supposed to be at least 16) would get excused from high school and “a lady would pick them up and take them to the fire,” Bianchi said. Griswald went on to become Avon’s first fire chief in 1960, the year that the Avon Volunteer Fire Department was incorporated.

•  Back when Avon was a rural farming town, fire damage to property was determined by how many prize dairy cows were lost in the incident.

• Before there was organized firefighting effort in town, “fires were fought by anyone and everyone,” Bianchi said.  Friends, neighbors and children would line up and hand off “40-quart milk cans from a flat bed truck, like the old Bucket Brigade. They didn’t have the super pumps like they do today.”

• When a fire was detected, a call was put in to Charlie Hughes and he would blast a whistle. “He had a long blast and a short blast, but you still had to go to a central location to find out where the fire was,” Bianchi said. “Sometimes you’d see smoke and know where to go.”

• It was not uncommon to have the wife of a firefighter drive the fire truck to the fire to help out, but “they weren’t allowed to enter a burning building,” Bianchi said.

• Today, the fire department has three sizes of air masks so dogs and cats can be resuscitated.  There have been several incidents when the life of a dog has been saved; the department has not responded to any incidents involving cats.

• The fire department has a stock of little stuffed bears that they hand out to scared children at car accidents and fires.

I could regale you with other interesting tidbits, but you’ll have to read future articles to learn more.  I will end with comments from Post, a 40-year career fire fighter, who radiated enthusiasm and positive energy as he explained more than I ever needed to know about water hoses.

“I have the best job in the world. We’re the good guys,” he said. There is nothing more personally satisfying, Post added, than looking up at a burning building and waiting with open arms to catch a frightened child and know that you can get him or her to safety. “Someone is ready to give you their most precious belonging without batting an eye,” he said.

Next week, the academy will highlight fire prevention and how 911 calls are handled. The group will tour the new dispatch center at the Avon Police Department, as well. Read about it on Patch the following Sunday.

Have I mentioned that the snacks are fabulous in the class?  I had two chocolate Devil Dogs, a baby Hershey Bar and a small Snickers bar.  Remember, I needed the extra energy to climb into that pump truck!