Vol. 42, Issue 5
www.methodjst.edu/stuttentmeciia
Thursday, October 23,2003
i
ethodist College, FayetteviUe, NC
Established 1961
A Real American Hero in our Midst
JOHN ARNOLD
Edilor-in-Chief
Most collegc students spend
their time in sciiool searching for
personal advancement. Most stu
dents lool forward to Friday after
noon, and their biggest fear is an 8:{)0
a.m. test on Monday morning. Most
college students would not dream of
running into a four alann blaze on a
Saturday night when all their friends
are out living it up. Most college kids
are not Doug Austin.
Austin, a 20-year-old
Fayetteville native, has been putting
service before self since he was 16
years old. As a sophomore in high
school, Austin volunteered at the
local fire department. Now a college
sophomore and consen’ation major,
he has years of experience.
Austin explained that in order to
become a state certified fire fighter,
an applicant must undergo 400 to
600 hours of training. As a sea.soned
veteran, Austin serves several local
fire departments including West Area
and Stoney Point, working both as a
paid professional and also as volun
teer when stations are a man short.
He does this while taking 17 hours of
college credit at our own Methodist
0)1 lege.
Austin is not limited to the
Fayetteville scene. He has fought
fires nationwide.
In the summer of 2002, Austin
began working for the North Caro
lina Forest Service. This is no easy
task. Candidates must pass several
tests and also complete a three-mile
hike wearing 45 pounds of equip
ment in less than 45 minutes. Austin
worked for the Forest Service on an
on-call basis.
“When things would get real
extreme w e would get a call
and go out,’’ says Austin. "We
worked out in Utah, New
Mexico, and Arizona."
Austin does not
consider himself to be "‘an
adrenaline junky." He simply
has the desire to help others.
In the summer of 2t)03
Austin put in an application to
fight fires on the Federal level.
He was awarded the position of
GS-4 and was assigned to a
Type 1 Hot Shot Crew in
Califomia.
Austin explained a normal
‘■non-fire” day, ‘‘We usually
woke up around 7 a.m., got to
work at 8 and stretched for
about 30 minutes. After that we
would do a really intense PT
hike for about two hours and
then training, project work, or
gear maintenance for the rest of
the day.’"
“Fire days were
different,’' he said. "We would
wake up around 4:30 a.m. and
go to about 10 or I 1 p.m. It
was not uncommon to see a 16-
hour shift. The crew that 1 was
on would go in w hen the fire
was too big to parachute in,
normalh' we would park a few
miles aw'ay and hike the rest of
the way. Physically it can be
veiy lough. Mentally, it w as
very frazzling."
Austin was put in
harms way on a daily basis. The
scariest situation he came across was
during what is called a “burn out.”
Tliis is when one tire is intentionally
set to burn out another fire.
“We were in the middle of a
giant W with fire coming in on both
sides. Luckily we were able to get
out before things got bad,” Austin
said.
photos provided by North Carolina Forest Service
W hile Austin has been in
over a hundred fires he, has no plans
of slowing dow'n. After col lege,
Austin plans on going into some kind
of public service, possibly even in
law enforcement. If you are inter
ested in fighting fires on the national
level, simply go to www.apue.com
and fill out an application.
Austin says that, “w'hile
positions are competitive, there are
always spaces for college kids, the
key is making yourself marketable.”
Austin suggests anyone interested in
volunteering on the local level should
go to a local fire depailment and
.someone w'ill get them “squared
aw'ay.”