By Rick Clemenson
The Times Union
Copyright 2007 The Hearst Corporation
All Rights Reserved
ALBANY, N.Y. — Joe Zambon will graduate this week with a degree in atmospheric science from the University at Albany. As much as the higher education will serve him, he said the lessons he learned while volunteering at the McKownville Fire Department will be important too.
Zambon and a dozen other UAlbany students are the latest in a long line of volunteers who have ties to the school.
Most don’t expect to become full-time firefighters. Zambon, for one, plans to be a meteorologist. But the 21-year-old Buffalo native said his service at the fire station, on Western Avenue adjacent to campus, helped keep him connected to the community. Zambon would like to continue firefighting when he attends graduate school at North Carolina State University.
Ties to the school abound at the Fire Department. More than a dozen of the 46 members are UAlbany students. Several are alumni or have children who have been, or are, students. Herb Brown, a former chief, is a retired math professor.
David Clancy, the current chief and a veteran of 18 years with the department, said the students’ service is indispensable, especially during the day, when many members cannot respond because they are at work. The students have enabled the department to speed up its response time. They juggle schoolwork and part-time jobs with the demands of the department. The training to be certified takes 26 weeks. Some sleep next to scanners in their dorm rooms or carry beepers so they can respond to emergencies.
Sophomore Michael Rothschild of New City, Rockland County, said he has had to weigh whether to respond to a call or take an exam. When heavy rains swamped the Capital Region in April, students were among the first responders to help pump out basements. The calls started at 4 a.m., Zambon said.
Days after completing fire training, Rothschild was one of the first responders to a house fire in Guilderland. He was one of four firefighters who went into the home but had to retreat before the roof collapsed.
He will never forget Aug. 25, 2005. It was a day before his 20th birthday and it was his first call. It also turned out to be the department’s first fatal structure fire in 31 years. By the time crews showed up at the Guilderland residence, two people had died.
Chief Clancy has a high regard for the collegiate contingent.
“This is a great group of kids. They are respectful and truly committed to volunteerism,” Clancy said. “It’s a huge commitment, and they are meeting that commitment.”