Community service: Pitt-Greensburg freshmen wash fire trucks, get quick course in firefighting
It was time for community service Friday night for a group of about 15 first-year students at Pitt-Greensburg, who were cleaning a Greensburg fire truck while learning about firefighting.
The students were washing a ladder truck from Greensburg Hose Company No. 2 and a utility truck from Greensburg Hose Company No. 7 that carries the dive team’s inflatable boats. The students were fulfilling their community service requirements.
Kristen Stratton, the Pitt-Greensburg campus’ internship coordinator teaches one of the seminars. It’s a way of having students work collaboratively, give back to the community, and help them to get adjusted to campus, Stratton said.
The students worked the fire department’s hoses and hooked up to a hydrant in order to spray the trucks and rafts. They also soaped up and scrubbed the sides of the truck.
“It was like a large garden hose,” said Madison Scalese of Cherry Tree, Indiana County.
While the 1¾-inch hose she was using seemed to her like a big garden hose, it was smaller than what firefighters might use when dousing a burning house.
Sydney Spino is a sophomore from Hempfield who organizes a community service project for the first-year students. Spino had made the arrangements through her stepfather, Jeff Guiddy, a lieutenant with Greensburg Hose Co. No. 2, to have the vehicles come to campus. Spino, who is studying data analytics, serves as a mentor.
“They seemed excited,” Spino said.
Spino said she isn’t a junior firefighter but has volunteered at the fire hall.
”Not everyone understands what it takes to run a volunteer fire department and the volunteers that are needed,” Spino said.
One student who get a little understanding of what it takes to wear a firefighter’s bunker gear was Ashlyn Brannagan of Mt. Pleasant.
Greensburg firefighter Joe Wagne helped her put on the protective pants, jacket, helmet and boots — all of which were a little too big for her.
“This heavy,” Brannagan said. And that was without wearing an oxygen tank on her back or carrying a rescue hook.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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