Students hear the sirens every night from trucks coming from the Cross Street Station of the Middletown Fire Department on their way to aid a member of the community. The firehouse, now in its twenty-fourth year of service, is nestled right into campus next to the Freeman Athletic Center.
One might think that the department is busy responding to student created disasters, but the situation is actually quite the opposite.
According to Lieutenant Ray Davis, students seem to understand that they will have more fun if they do not create dangerous situations for themselves. Captain Ted Samolik and Davis both confirmed that the number of student calls has sharply dropped in the years they have worked in the Department.
“We respond to some 32,000 calls a year in the community, but there has been a huge turnaround in the number of calls made from Wesleyan,” Samolik said.
The department, with three fire engines and 60 personnel, responds to EMS and fire related incidents.
“At Wesleyan we respond to everything from a sprained ankle to a mini-explosion in the chem lab,” Samolik said.
Even with these incidents at Wesleyan, the fire department says that the University is far from its main concern.
“Of course our biggest fear is that we will be responding to a false alarm on campus when someone needs serious help across town, but the maturity level of students has gone up leaps and bounds to the point where that is no longer a problem,” Samolik said.
The nature of firefighting has changed dramatically in the last few decades and even more dramatically since 9/11. Both Samolik and Davis said that the focus of fire fighting has shifted from fighting to prevention.
“This change has been so complete that we have almost put ourselves out of a job,” Davis said.
Fire safety focuses on prevention and early detection with techniques such as sprinklers, smoke detectors, alarms, and the fire resistant materials Wesleyan dorms are made of. A fast response time is also important.
“Because of the effectiveness of the new fire prevention system we were looking around for a reason to justify our job,” Samolik said. “We added EMS services. Often we arrive on the scene before the ambulances and get the job done.”
Due to federal grant money the firehouse is not experiencing cutbacks after 9/11. In fact, the firehouse has been able to buy more up-to-date equipment and train its fire fighters in preparation for every situation.
“Our fire fighters are all trained in chemical waste clean up and decontaminations as well as high angle rescue, dive rescue and terrorist preparedness,” Davis said.
With nuclear weaponry as a real concern for fire fighters, the Middletown Fire Department is grateful to have reduced responsibility on campus. Davis says that when he started at the Middletown station 17 years ago they would respond to four calls every weekend night on Wesleyan’s campus. These days the fire station is lucky to average one call a week.
“In fact we don’t mind if the students want to have a bonfire; as long as they get permission in advance,” Samolik said. “We want the students to have fun, but we want them to be safe.”
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