By Morgan Smith
DRYDEN, NY–
The siren from the Dryden fire station can be heard from miles away, and one of the first members to arrive at the station is 23 year old firefighter Bruce Eck.
When an emergency call is placed to the local 911 dispatch center, the information is then transferred to the station with the closest jurisdiction.
“We have people here for our ambulance side at all times, fire side usually we don’t have anybody here unless its getting to be bad weather or something. Somebody usually comes down and stands by, usually somebody like myself, somebody who is relatively new, and is still gung hoe.” said Eck.
Eck definitely is ‘gung hoe’. He spends his spare time at the station so that he can get more experience, and be one of the first to get to the scene. He has been a volunteer firefighter with Dryden for 1 ½ years and was recently certified to be an interior firefighter.
“I had to take two classes before I could be an interior firefighter. I had to take scene support which was a 27 hour class, and firefighter one which is a 96 hour class.” said Eck.
The Neptune Hose Co. and Dryden Ambulance Inc. is a small station. The fire department is strictly volunteer run, while the ambulance and EMS have full-time paid workers response ready 24/7.
“The fire side of the department is smaller. Our ambulance has bigger coverage, it goes to Groton a lot while the fire department mainly covers the just village of Dryden.” said Eck.
He added that they sometimes go to Cortland if they call for extra support, however the stations average call is usually an alarm set off at the Tompkins Cortland Community College Campus near by.
On top of being a firefighter, Eck is also taking classes at TC3. He said it’s hard sometimes to manage school and work, especially when you don’t receive a pay check as a volunteer firefighter; but its well worth it because he loves the job.
The station recently went through $400,000 worth of construction, adding a new radio room, bunk room and common room to house their 22 interior firefighters and 5 exterior firefighters. They should also be getting two new trucks by 2011.
“I don’t mind being here, I really like it. There is always something I can do to stay busy too.” said Eck
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