Lights, Sirens, Action: Two New Recruits Join the Scotch Plains and Fanwood Fire Departments

Dan Biglin had just helped slice the cake for his son's tenth birthday when the pager on his hip started going off. A radio dispatcher voice came through, describing the nature of the call and stating the location. The newest member of the Scotch Plains Fire Department, Biglin, had to ditch the cake, hop in his car and head for the station.

Biglin is one of two recent graduates – in a class of 24 – from the Union County Fire Academy to join the volunteer fire stations in the Scotch Plains area. Russ Marchica became a member of the Fanwood Fire Department.

Both went through nearly 250 curriculum hours at the academy while also juggling families and full-time careers, and did so knowing they'll need to place their lives on hold when the pager sounds.

"It's very rewarding to help a member of the community in, truthfully, their darkest hour – or hopefully help mitigate those situations," Biglin said.

Marchica was already an active member of his community. Aside from being a Social Studies teacher at Myles J. McManus Middle School in Linden, he coached sports teams and volunteered at an after-school program, helping low achieving students with their homework. But he had always been intrigued by his twin younger brothers, who were career firemen in Rahway.

"I'd hear the stories about the fires they'd encounter, and for some reason it always sounded really cool, really exciting to me," Marchica said. "I had nothing really exciting going on, I was a teacher and going back and forth to school, I was married and had sort of a chill lifestyle, so I figured fire fighting was something I could get into."

Biglin and Marchica began the academy in January, attending three-hour classes three nights per week, along with an eight-hour session on Saturdays. "During the week it was all classroom and then on Saturdays we'd put what we'd learn into practice," Marchica explained. CPR, First Aid, rescue techniques, hazardous materials awareness, recognizing and reading the nature of fires, as well as understanding weapons of mass destruction, were all part of the course load – all of the exact same training and class time that career, paid firefighters go through.

For Biglin, a father of three, it was tough: "I missed countless basketball games, soccer games and dance lessons." At 45 years old and his birthday in late June, Biglin had additional reason to be at ease with completing the program when he did – New Jersey has a state-mandated cut-off of 46 for joining the fire department. With his graduation, Biglin became one of the oldest individuals to complete the academy.

"I was pretty senior to most of the guys by a good 15 to 20 years," he said.

With completion of the academy, Biglin and Marchica are now Probationary Firefighters. They will have their pagers on them at all times and respond to any and all calls that they can – some respond to nearly 95 percent of the calls, others are closer to the 30 percent minimum.

According to Capt. Brian Mecca, of the Scotch Plains Fire Department, their station receives nearly 500 calls a year. The calls range from smoke alarms going off to high carbon monoxide levels, or "smells and bells," as he puts it. Mecca has been a volunteer with the fire department for over 33 years and he says that only "two or three" of the calls will be an actual fire.

The call Biglin responded to at his son's birthday wasn't anything of particular consequence. He's still waiting for his first live fire – and a first of a different sort.

"So far there's been no initiation," Biglin said. "But the old stand-by is that there will be a fire alarm in the middle of the night and you'll shove your foot into a boot full of shaving cream."

If you are interested in joining the Scotch Plains Volunteer Fire Department, you can find more information on the web at: www.scotchplainsnj.com/firerecruit.html. To learn more about joining the Fanwood Volunteer Fire Department, visit www.fanwoodfd.com 

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