As a child, lifelong New Canaanite Peter Ayoub dreamt of becoming a firefighter or astronaut.
New Canaan firefighters Ben Stout, Peter Ayoub, Dave Bilotti and Svienn Bragason. Together with Will Garbus, the four volunteers passed their CT firefighter I certification. James Caldero photo
A 2003 New Canaan High School graduate who now works as a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers doing M&A advisory, Ayoub recalls donning firefighters’ outfits for several Halloweens in New Canaan.
More recently, especially after purchasing a house in town a little more than one year ago, the grownup Ayoub said he found himself “looking for an opportunity to give back to the community.”
Ayoub’s inspiration for making that a priority has been his own parents. “They’re both doctors in town and they always gave back,” he said. “I was trying to find an avenue myself, to get involved and help the people I care about.”
Those people being fellow New Canaanites, and recent weeks have seen some of the ways they’ve needed help, as frozen water pipes have burst at dozens of New Canaan houses from extreme low temperatures, and high winds have taken down trees and limbs that knocked power out of more than 1,000 homes.
Ayoub in November 2014 joined the New Canaan Fire Department, becoming part a storied and important group of 35 active members that offers not just a chance to make a difference as an essential piece of the town’s emergency response, but also camaraderie, intellectual and physical stimulation, connection with fellow New Canaanites and social interaction across a wide spectrum of residents (those interested in learning more about joining can see the information at the end of this article).
“We are very lucky in New Canaan to have some very well qualified firefighters, and it has amazed me, the breadth of knowledge you have to have to be successful at their job. I’ve learned about architecture, building materials, design, types of structures in town built in the ‘60s and what is the flashpoint of those things, what materials are there, what you have to consider, hazardous materials, [what information can be gleaned from Department of Transportation] placards on trucks, interactions with chemicals, the physics of fire behavior, car fires and the difference between lithium ion battery versus gas fires. It is a very complex and wide and deep knowledge base.”
Together with four others—a group representing a typically diverse set of people in the Fire Company— Ayoub last year earned the rigorous state of Connecticut Firefighter I certification. That certification, together with the blessing of a local probationary board, makes them interior fully qualified members of the New Canaan Fire Company (the volunteers maintain the same levels of trainings and certifications as their career counterparts).
It’s a commitment—Ayoub himself put in 465 training hours in 2015, according to Assistant Chief Russell Kimes. The certification itself is about 160 hours long—covering topics from fire behavior and self-contained breathing apparatus to infection control and blood-borne pathogens—and typically is completed during the first year or so for new probationary members.
For Kimes, a 1998 New Canaan High School graduate who has been involved with the fire company since he was 18, one part of the group’s work that many New Canaanites may not understand is that the volunteers get trucks on the road and provide response when the full-time career staff is occupied, delayed or otherwise unable to do so.
The two groups—volunteer and career—are “completely unified,” Kimes said, which is not only rare in fire departments but also helps bolster response during storms or other emergencies because there is wide collaboration.
Many of the younger guys in the volunteer company (it’s worth noting that women absolutely are welcome and that one woman who had been part of the group is now a career firefighter in Nashville, Kimes said) get into it as a stepping-stone to a career job, he said.
“Others, like myself, enjoy what we are doing for a career and have a passion for firefighting,” Kimes said.
“What’s fascinating about it is you will find that doing firefighting—and this is very similar to my experience in the Marine Corps—you become closest friends with people that you would never have met or hung out with because of the shared experience and training. It’s being part of a team and giving back. Sometimes—I know I enjoy what I do—but I wonder how much good I’m doing by working spreadsheets. This provides a very tangible and direct outlet for you to be able to do good and help people when they need it most.”
The others in Ayoub’s “class” who earned the level-1 certification last year include David Bilotti, a Stamford resident in his 40s who works as a tradesman for Rowayton Fuel & Oil, Ben Stout, a 19-year-old New Canaan resident and full-time commuter student at WestConn, and Will Garbus, a 20-year-old town resident (who, like Stout, is originally from Wilton) and full-time student at the University of Connecticut, and Sveinn Bragason, a town resident and father of two kids (at East and Saxe) who works part-time in IT, volunteers at the New Canaan Nature Center and is pursuing an EMT certification with the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps. (Asked if he would volunteer as both a firefighter and EMT, Bragason answered wryly: “If I want to get a divorce.”)
Firefighting is in Bragason’s blood. A Scotland native who was raised in Iceland, he is the son of a volunteer firefighter in Iceland who did some firefighting 20 years ago as a member of that nation’s Coast Guard. (Bragason also has two brothers-in-law who have been firefighters, one of whom currently works as a career firefighter in Bristol.)
“So I sort of knew what getting into from that and previous experience, and I like to help people and do work where I can do things with my hands and my head at the same time,” he said.
For Bragason—who logged 373 training hours last year and responded to 106 calls (they average about one hour each, and in that tally he’s behind only Kimes at 127 and Ed Karl at 112 on the volunteer side)—the fire company delivers strong skills, “a lot of fun” and “gets me out of the house.”
He underscored how unique is the strong, collaborative relationship between the career and volunteer staff.
“We see what actually goes on in a real career firehouse and they are very knowledgeable and willing to help, which makes it a very good experience,” he said.
Bragason joined the group around the same time as Ayoub and Stout and he said the members “motivate each other” and keep one another going.
The average volunteer firefighter has served for six-plus years, Kimes said, and the company’s most tenured member has 37 years under his belt. Beyond the Level-I Certification, firefighters may pursue the “Q” endorsement to drive fire trucks, pump operator and fire safety officer, he said.
Kimes describes the upshot of volunteering as a New Canaan firefighter as bringing about an essential change in someone who is standing at the scene of something like an accident, between those who stand back and observe versus those who “jump in and help.”
“We have people who may have been standing on the side, who then by getting the training and skills, become great members,” he said.
The basic criteria for becoming a New Canaan firefighter are: Any male or female between the ages of 18 and 55, holds a valid Connecticut driver’s license, and resides in New Canaan or in a Connecticut town within five miles of the New Canaan border. Those interested should email recruits@newcanaanfire.com for information.