By Jim Carney
The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
AKRON, Ohio — Michael Pampel’s smiling face is a living symbol of the friendship between Akron and its sister city in Germany.
The 27-year-old German fire department dispatcher, paramedic and firefighter has become a one-man ambassador to Akron from the city of Chemnitz.
Since Oct. 27, Pampel has lived in a room at the No. 2 Fire Station on East Exchange Street at East Market Street. He has worked with the three shifts of firefighters and paramedics at the busy station.
Paying his own way to America, Pampel arranged through e-mails with Akron officials to use two months of vacation, overtime and compensatory time from his job in Germany to shadow Akron firefighters as a way to improve his English and learn the ways of American firefighters.
He pays $10 a day to stay in the unused female dorm at the No. 2 firehouse.
Not only does he make regular runs with the firefighters,
but after hours he also has been invited to the homes of his colleagues for meals, including Thanksgiving dinner.
He even taught a German class at Copley-Fairlawn Middle School during his time in Akron.
“He has a real desire to see what it’s like here,” said Capt. James Case, who works at the No. 2 station. “We enjoy having him here.”
Pampel said he had two years of English language training in Germany but realized he needed more skills to deal with the vast number of people his fire department treats who speak English.
Case said Pampel contacted several American cities about coming to America, but the only one that worked with him was Akron, the sister city of his hometown.
This holiday season, people from Chemnitz are operating the Chriskindl Market in downtown Akron at Lock 3 Park, and Pampel has helped out at the market.
The relationship between the two cities is bigger than the holiday market downtown, said David A. Lieberth, Akron’s deputy mayor for administration.
“We do more than probably any other sister city in the country,” Lieberth said.
For example, last month, Advanced Machinery and Technology for Experimental Chemistry, out of Chemnitz, opened an office in the Akron Global Business Accelerator.
Akron’s planning department has been using software for digital imaging from a Chemnitz company for several years.
This spring, Road Runner Akron Marathon co-founders Steve and Jeannine Marks ran a half-marathon in Chemnitz as part of the interplay between the sister cities, and four runners from Germany ran in this year’s Road Runner race, Lieberth said.
“We have a very active relationship here,” Lieberth said.
Case said not only has Pampel been able to improve his English by speaking the language day in and day out with co-workers, but he also has gotten a lot of basic fire training.
“He is getting six months of experience in two months because he works every day,” Case said.
Earlier this month, Pampel joined the Akron firemen in a three-day hazardous materials class taught by instructors from Cleveland State University.
Akron firefighter Steve Owen, who has worked with Pampel at the No. 2 station, said he is “a super-good guy, all the way around. He has a real desire to see what it’s like here.”
Pampel said he hopes to study health-care management in college and wants to become an officer in a fire company.
He will be busy after he leaves Akron Saturday.
He is scheduled to work Christmas Day with the fire department in Chemnitz, where his primary job is as a dispatcher.
“Thank you, thank you,” he said in appreciation of the hospitality that has been shown to him by the firefighters at the No. 2 station. “This really was my best time in my life. So many experiences. So many good guys.”
Copyright 2008 Akron Beacon Journal