Living and working at UC Davis Fire Department’s Station 34 are 15 college students. These men and women are selected from an applicant pool of 100 to 150 every two years after undergoing a physical abilities assessment, intensive interviews, and training at a firefighting academy. The UC Davis Student Resident Firefighter Program was started in 1955 and is one of only three such programs in the U.S (the others are at Clemson University and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks).

UC Davis takes pride in its diversity and so does its Student Resident Firefighter Program. There are two women in the current program. Chinese, Vietnamese, Hispanic, Japanese, Korean, Native-American—are some of the ethnicities represented today and over the years.

“The Student Resident Firefighters are required to work one 24-hour shift and four 14-hour shifts, and participate in three training sessions each month,” explains Interim Fire Chief Nathan (Nate) Trauernicht. “Their contractual arrangement with the department provides a private room at Station 34 and compensation for responding to emergency calls when they’re not on duty. Fire suppression, medical emergencies, hazardous material incidents; fire hydrant maintenance, flow testing, assisting with building inspections—they do it all.”

While some students have been in Fire Explorer Programs, there’s no requirement for fire service experience.

“Applicants must first pass a physical ability assessment that identifies their potential with training and support to be successful,” says Nate. “Those that pass go on to a panel interview. The panel is made up of the program coordinator, one of our women firefighters and my assistant. They will learn about the applicants’ majors, goals and interest in the program. Each gets a numerical score so the number of applicants is pared down. The remaining applicants then come to me for an interview. Basically, I’m looking to verify what the panel has done. Then, we make a selection of between 20 and 25 who will go on to the Student Firefighter Academy.

“For the weeks preceding the Student Firefighter Academy, Monday through Friday, in the evenings, each of our shifts leads a group of applicants in a physical fitness preparedness program. The idea is that we will make everyone more successful in the academy by preparing all of the candidates for the skill specific physical requirements that come with line of work. We are not separating people out but preparing everyone equally. We know that some people won’t be successful without this if we just thrust them into the academy.

“The physical fitness preparedness program was developed by two of our firefighters—one woman and one man—who became IAFF certified peer fitness trainers. The program helps the applicants to focus on key body areas that are weak. This is not just for the female applicants. A lot of the young men do not have significant upper body strength and lack muscular endurance. “We also teach techniques that allow them to leverage their body type to function on the fire ground.

“The academy starts the third week in June and runs for five weeks. At the end of the academy, we make our final selection. This year, there will be eight openings.

“The young men and women we select have strong morals and values and are goal oriented, showing a commitment to completing things. Our students typically have had memberships in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, service groups, and sports teams. Each demonstrates what I call a ‘community-mindedness’.

"Many of our students, when they are accepted into the program are not considering a career in the fire service. That can change. Over the years, we’ve made many parents mad because their expectation was for their children to be pre-med, go onto law school, or get degrees in bio-engineering but instead they graduate and become firefighters.”

Both of the young women in the current program, Chelsea Johnstone and Lindsey Dubs aspire to be career firefighters.

Chelsea is a senior and will graduate in December. Chelsea learned about the program when she had a medical emergency. “I didn’t know that this program was an opportunity for college kids but I’ve always been interested in the fire service. Career-wise, I thought about emergency medicine. I got my EMT while I was in high school. During my freshman and sophomore years at Davis, I worked for an ambulance company. Last summer, I worked for CAL FIRE and will again this season,” says Chelsea. “I want to be a firefighter with a large department in Southern California and I’m trying to get hired now. I also want to go to paramedic school.”

Lindsey Duds, who is a junior, set her sights on the program when she was a senior at Vacaville High School and applied before she graduated.

Nursing—more specifically being a labor and delivery nurse—was the career Lindsey considered in high school. It was her brother, who’s three years older and was in the program that shifted her career interest to the fire service.

“When my brother came home, he talked a lot about the program,” says Lindsey. “I thought it was cool but as a woman didn’t believe it was a career option for me. Coincidentally, in the gym where I worked out there were some firefighters and one was a woman. I wanted to ask her about what it was like to be a firefighter in such a male-dominated profession but never did. I really admired her and was probably unconsciously influenced. With my brother’s encouragement, I decided to apply. As it turned out, I got accepted to go to the academy before I got my acceptance to UC Davis.

“There were 20 of us in the academy vying for six openings. I didn’t get one of those slots. Then, the summer before my sophomore year, I got a call to join the program with two others.”

When Lindsey returns to Station 34 as a junior at the end of this summer, for her and the other Student Resident Firefighters and program alumni, the experiences, the bonds formed; the physical and mental challenges, and being able to help people, add incalculable value to their lives at UC Davis.

View a video about the UC Davis Student Resident Firefighter Program.