The Yorktown Fire Department received a call at 10:30 p.m. about a motorcycle accident in January 2013. The cyclist was driving down a curvy road in Yorktown when he lost control and went into a stretch of trees. The roads were clear, but a layer of snow covered the ground.
Kurt Globerger had just arrived for one of his mandatory monthly overnight shifts, and he loaded into the fire truck with the senior firefighters to head to the scene.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Globerger said. “It was the first automobile accident I had been on.”
Globerger had just finished his training to become a volunteer firefighter at the beginning of the year, and most of the calls he responded to were medical calls, which he could not assist in yet. This was the first call where he could put his training to the test.
The firefighters arrived on the scene first and located the biker 20 yards into the tress pinned beneath the bike. Following the senior firefighters’ lead, he assisted in freeing him from the bike, stabilizing and transporting him to the ambulance.
“The medical calls weren’t much of a rush and I was just carrying bags and holding open doors,” Globerger said. “That accident was the first time I actually sat back and thought, ‘Wow, I feel like a fireman.’”
Globerger is just one of the handful of students who, on top of a full course load, volunteer at one of the nine local fire departments in Delaware County. Globerger, a criminal justice major, is currently the only student volunteering at the Yorktown Fire Department, but at any given time there are one to three students volunteering at each of the departments in Muncie, training officer Chris Horner said.
“There is always interest from students in volunteering at these departments,” Horner said. “I’d say the ratio of student volunteers compared to those that just live in the community is about one in 10.”
Every year, new students apply to be volunteer firefighters. This year alone, four new students applied for the training at the Yorktown Fire Department.
The training starts with a 40- to 60-hour class in background of hazardous material. It is followed with a basic firefighter class where trainees learn how to use the ladder and hose, how to help out in car accidents and how to ride in the truck. The Indiana Department of Homeland security requires a total of 227 hours.
“All of these classes are free, and these volunteers are getting a great deal of skills that they can carry with them,” Horner said. “They also are joining a community of people that make a difference in the community, and there are few things that beat that.”
Globerger started his training in October of 2012; that following January he was a certified firefighter.
The second semester of his sophomore year, Globerger was a full-time student, worked part-time at the Jo Ann Gora Student Recreation and Wellness Center, and started fulfilling his 24 hours a month of volunteer time at the Yorktown Fire Department. He has done the balancing act since.
When he is not in class or working on campus, Globerger spends his time at the fire department tucked away off of Smith Road in Yorktown. While there, he can keep up with homework or relax with coworkers, playing video games or watching TV in the living quarters.
“People wonder why I spend my time here so often instead of going out on weekends, and it’s simple; I made a commitment and this is what I love doing,” he said. “I don’t regret trading in a stereotypical college life for what I have now. It’s something that I’ve been around my whole life.”
Globerger grew up in a family of firefighters.
Both his dad and his uncle were firefighters his whole life, and at an early age he wanted to do the same thing.
“Of course, his mind changed as he grew up,” his dad, Wayne Globerger, said. “One day he wanted to be a firefighter, the next a professional baseball player and then an architect, but we’ve always supported him.”
Wayne is the Fire Chief in Glenview, Ill. He knows the dangers his son faces going into this line of work, but took a backseat and watched as Kurt developed his skills and passion for the job on his own.
“He’s a really good kid, and looks at [the job] the right way,” his dad said. “I told him going into it [to] keep his mouth shut, don’t let them know his dad is a fire chief and do it his own way. He’s done that and I am very, very proud for how far he has come.”
Growing up, Kurt saw the trials and triumphs that his dad faced, and how important it was to have family support in a job like this. He would visit his dad at the station on holidays and grew close to the people that his dad worked with and their families. It is something he has done in the Yorktown Fire Department as well.
The fire department hosts get-togethers with the firefighters’ families, or goes out to football games together to keep everyone involved.
“In a dangerous job like this, you have to have support, otherwise your head isn’t in it and that’s dangerous not only for yourself but for the people that work around you,” Kurt said.
The Yorktown Fire Department responds to an average of one to three calls a day, or a medium of 500 calls a year, most of which are medical calls where they assist EMS. Only about 20 percent of the calls they go on are fires.
Most of the fires Kurt has gone on can be extinguished through a tactic called “surround and drown,” where they surround the area the fire is in and hit it with hoses.
The number one concern of the department is safety, so the firefighters never enter a house that is already unstable to enter.
“When I am in a house that is on fire, I just focus on my breathing to remain calm,” Kurt said. “It can be loud when things collapse, so you think you’re right by it, but you know that you are in a safe spot.”
For Kurt, volunteering is just as much a career choice as it is a personal one. He continually attends any training he can to enhance his abilities, and spends as much time at the station as he can.
“He’s really become part of our little family here,” said David Boone, Yorktown fire chief. “He’s dedicated and committed, and just an overall great guy.”
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