Ears perk up, eyes widen and conversation halts as the latest 911 call is dispatched through the radio system at the Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department. While most people would flee from a fire, the volunteers here on a Thursday night are eager to go to the scene.
Boots and pants line the perimeter of the floor inside the station. Neatly arranged helmets hang along one wall, easy to grab for someone rushing to hop on an engine.
"It's the thrill of waking up at 3 in the morning, grabbing my gear, getting on the truck, hearing the lights and sirens and knowing there is someone who needs me to save their life," said fourth-year College student Amy Klavin, serving her shift at the station on Berkmar Drive.
Fellow volunteer Colin Bateson, a second-year Engineering student, shares Klavin's enthusiasm.
Bateson said that as a child he was "tempted to burn anything that said 'flammable,' and there were lots of casualties involving bugs and a magnifying glass."
"I have now decided to rescind my sinful ways and try to save people from fire," he added.
Bateson had no experience in firefighting before last year. But at the Student Activities Fair last fall, a fire truck parked at the top of the Amphitheater caught his eye.
Drawn to the red engine, he picked up a flier on how to join the Seminole Trail VFD.
Quartermaster and senior Seminole Trail firefighter Quen Marchant said the department routinely relies on Virginia students to fill job vacancies.
The fire department, founded in 1977, has grown into one of the busiest volunteer fire departments in the Commonwealth. In 2001, their 60 to 80 members made over 2,000 runs total, with an average response time of 3.31 minutes for runs made within their district.
Although the volunteers technically are firefighters, very few of their calls involve actually responding to a fire. Most runs are responses to medical problems, activated alarms and car accidents.
After responding to a medical emergency in April, third-year College student Riley Swinehart says he'll never forget the screams coming from a 2-year-old boy who had just fallen two stories.
"I just remember going in and trying to calm the kid down," Swinehart said, looking up from under the bill of his U.Va. lacrosse hat. "I don't remember showing much emotion externally."
The child, nicknamed Boogie, was playing upstairs when he climbed onto a windowsill and opened the window. Boogie lost his balance and fell two stories onto the concrete patio. A neighbor, who was a nurse, had brought him inside and cleaned him up a little.
"When we got there, we were basically trying to make sure he had no internal injuries. We strapped him down to make sure he didn't hurt himself more," Swinehart said.
The left side of Boogie's face was puffed up and scraped, and his left eye was almost swollen shut.
"I remember thinking 'Wow, this kid is really in trouble,' but at the same time I thought 'I am here, I have a job to do, so let's help this kid,'" Swinehart said.
Amy Klavin has gone a few steps further in being able to assist victims. As a volunteer firefighter, Klavin was able to take the state's vehicle extraction and Emergency Medical Technician courses free of charge. She hopes to become a paramedic and work in emergency medicine.
Klavin recalls arriving on the scene of an accident in early August. A man had overcompensated on a turn and had flipped his Mack truck, sending him flying through the windshield. Klavin helped to set up a landing zone for Pegasus, an emergency helicopter, and then aided the paramedics while they stabilized the man.
Bones had punctured the skin and there were lacerations covering his body. But it was most important to get the man breathing again.
"I was holding his legs down while they paralyzed him so they could put a tube down his throat," Klavin said. "The paramedics were breathing life into him and it was amazing to watch somebody's life hanging there."
Colin Bateson never thought he'd find himself in a position to help save people's lives. Joining the department turned out to be a distinctive way for Bateson to give back to his community.
"This may sound cheesy, but I went to a Catholic high school, and we were forced to do community service which was usually dull and boring. But firefighting is a way I can volunteer and have fun at the same time," he said.
After participating in ride-alongs with each of the four crews at Seminole Trail VFD, the department voted to let Bateson become a member and assigned him to a crew. Now he is required to be at the station one night per week, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., and one weekend per month.
"When you first start out, you are called a 'dot,' and basically you can't do anything but ride along and observe," Bateson said.
All "dot" firefighters wear a yellow sticker on their helmets. After three months, Bateson graduated to an 'R-dot.' If there was a fire, he was allowed to go in with his captain. The letter "R" emblazoned on his helmet's yellow sticker signified his new status.
Although there were no opportunities to fight a real fire, he participated in a training burn.
Someone who wanted to demolish a house donated it to the fire department. The R-Dots spent the day learning firefighting methods.
"We took out everything that would be toxic such as rugs, furniture and appliances, and we put hay bales and wooden pallets in the house," Bateson said. "At the end of the day, we just stood around and watched the whole house burn." Bateson said.
Bateson became a full-fledged fire fighter at the department in May. He was proud to peal the big yellow dot off his helmet.
He's not planning to make a career of fighting fires, but it's in his blood now, he said.
"It's addictive, so I might look to volunteer wherever else I may live," he added.
Klavin can't see herself doing anything other than this job.
"You meet people on the worst days of their lives, and you help them to live another day."
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