Chasing a Dream with Greenbelt Engine Co. 35

Let’s face it: There are a lot of us with a secret fascination with fire trucks, ambulances and police cars, especially when they turn on their sirens and lights and race to an emergency. They create a sense of excitement—and also dread over the day when we might be the ones they’re rushing to treat. For most of us, being a rescuer will always remain an idle fantasy, a dream. 

But not for Claire Tsoukolas, a 40-year-old Greenbelter with memories of her lifeguarding days in Florida. Responding to a newspaper ad placed recently by the Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad, Tsoukolas was one of four recruits — including a Greenbelt Middle School student — who have taken the first step toward making that dream a reality.

While standing beside a row of red lockers from which firefighters often seize their fire-thwarting gear, Tsoukolas found a role model in one Morgan Anderson, an eight-year veteran. Anderson, whose last six years have been spent as a Greenbelt volunteer, provided that example through both words and actions: Her conversation with Tsoukolas was cut short by an ambulance call. Twice that day, in fact, Anderson would immediately grab her gear and go. 

The fire department receives about 3,500 calls a year, according to the department's website. During the first six months of this year, 708 of those calls were for fires and 868 for medical services. Many of their most severe vehicle accident calls come from their assigned sections of the Beltway and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

When asked what her “day job” is, Anderson, 24, said, “You’ve caught me just as I transition from being a nursing assistant at Children’s Hospital to safety director of the Hyperbaric Department at Washington Adventist Hospital.”  She explained that a hyperbaric chamber is a high oxygen chamber for treating numerous diseases and conditions, including burns and diving injuries.

Deputy Chief Chris Ransom, who is a Fort Meade firefighter by day, said he believes this is the first “Greenbelt only” volunteer recruitment drive, intended to get “some fresh faces” in the Department.

Ransom explained that every firefighter volunteer has to receive an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification after they have served for a while, with the option of one day advancing to paramedic.  The main training is done at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute (MFRI) in College Park and at a regional training center in Southern Maryland.

“The training is free to volunteers," Ransom stressed. "They are never asked to pay any out-of-pocket expenses,”

“Ma, I Think I Can Finally Get In!”

Soon Tsoukolas is sitting in the training room and being briefed alongside Annalee O’Dell, 24, and the youngest recruit, Dimitri Nichols, and his mother, Dawn Johnson. Johnson said firefighters and paramedics seen racing down streets in real life and on television have long fascinated her son. In fact, reading the fire department's ad in the Greenbelt News Review prompted Johnson's son to proclaim, “Ma, I think I can finally get in!”

For her part, O’Dell cited “wanting to try something new” as her reason for turning up—in addition to looking for a change of pace from her more sedate duties as an accountant for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NOAA). 

Volunteer firefighter Augustine Garcia, a four-year veteran of the department who joined after 10 years of military service, took O’Dell under his wing as he gave her a tour of the station and explained the family atmosphere and rigorous training.

All Volunteers on Weekends

Garcia also explained that the department has four paid county firefighters on duty on weekdays when it is difficult to have volunteers. On weekends, the department becomes an all-volunteer force. Volunteers must work 12-hour shifts every other week. They are welcome to drop by and help out at any other time.

Like Nichols, Fon Narcisse had waited a long time before this opportunity to fulfill his dream of being a volunteer firefighter materialized. Since immigrating from his native Cameroon a year ago, Narcisse said he has wanted to become a Greenbelt volunteer firefighter  

Narcisse, 19, who is in his first year of nursing at Prince George's Community College in Largo, also now works at Joe's Crab Shack in Greenbelt, hired to sing, dance and wait on patrons breaking shells at one of Greenbelt's newest joints in town.

Of the six volunteer firefighters working at the station that day, only one has fulfilled the dream of driving a police car with sirens and lights—Lieutenant Kelly Lawson, well known as the Greenbelt Police Department’s public information officer. 

Lawson's police skills come in handy at the station, fingerprinting the new recruits—including young Nichols—after they signed paperwork and were photographed on Saturday.

Johnson, a resident of Franklin Park at Greenbelt Station, said she’s grateful to have Lawson watching out for her son at the fire station. She says that’s the kind of police contact she prefers—and the only time she’d want to see him fingerprinted by a police officer.  

Johnson, who has 22 years of experience as a corrections officer, said she is “grateful that (the fire department) is open to our youth (through their junior associate youth program)," adding: "I hope more youth get involved in this.” 

She said her years as a corrections officer taught her how important it is to give young people something positive to do, to keep them out of trouble.

And it’s not too late to join. For more information, visit the fire department’s website by clicking here.