The East Syracuse Fire Department has recently received accolades from the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) for its bunk-in program that houses students in the Onondaga Community College studying fire protection technology and provides room and board during their time at school.
The Village of East Syracuse was named the first place winner of the Local Government Achievement Awards on May 7 at the annual meeting of NYCOM. The bunk-in program is offered to students who are part of OCC’s fire protection technology who are currently volunteer members of a fire department outside of Onondaga County. The students are given a place to stay at either of the two fire stations, which allows for additional manpower for the ESFD when they go on calls.
“The student bunk-in program is a huge asset to the daily operations of the East Syracuse Fire Department. The students come to us already trained with their NYS Firefighter 1 certification from fire departments from outside Onondaga County,” said Fire Chief Chris Shields. “In return, this adds available personnel in the stations, ready to respond to emergencies, when the bell hits.”
The program was started in 2004, and can house up to eight students, four at each fire station. Students are allowed to be housed at the stations for the duration of their program, which typically takes five semesters.
“It’s basically a free board in trade for work at the fire station. Each student has to abide by a code of conduct and put in a certain amount of hours into the station,” said Michael Cramer, a past chief of the department. “It’s a good life experience for the students. They get a handle on what to expect in the real world.”
Cramer said many of the students come from small, rural fire departments where they might go to a total of 50 to 100 calls a year themselves. The ESFD typically will have more than 1,000 calls per year, allowing the students to experience a wider variety of emergency calls.
Many past students from the program have gone on to move to the Syracuse area, and are employed by local emergency service organizations or join the ESFD as volunteer members.
“We are thankful to NYCOM for this award. This program has been a huge asset to our fire department over the years and we are happy to be acknowledged for it,” said Mayor Robert Tackman in a statement. “This is another example of the great things our fire department is doing to help project the residents of the village and the North Town District. I am very proud of the fire department and thank them for working so hard to get this program going and continuing to provide it.”
