Until the early 1970s in the United States, and ambulance services and training were set up nationwide by federal decree, an undertaker arriving to transport an accident victim was the normal state of affairs. In 1969, after a student died on the playing field at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, a group of long-haired students, and a former firefighter and their Dean of Students, Don “Pappy” Sutton, founded the first college-affiliated fire department in the U.S.
St. Michael’s College Fire and Rescue still serves five Vermont towns and one city, 24-7, 365 days a year, with fire protection and ambulance services, including paramedic care. All of this protection to the Green Mountain State is provided free of charge by volunteer, college-student EMTs and firefighters.
Recently in Vermont, people from all over the U.S. – from Anchorage, Alaska to New York, New York – filled the Doubletree Hotel in South Burlington, Vermont, to celebrate 50 years of fire and rescue (delayed two years due to COVID).
“The fire and rescue program was created to fill a void,” said the now retired Sutton, 94. “Today, our goal is to develop mature and dedicated students that care about what they do and carry that passion with them into the future.”
A new book chronicles the department’s more fun and frightening calls, Crazy Ambulance Tales, by Chris Treece, a former squad EMT, now a journalist and public relations person. One reviewer said the book was “heartfelt and funny with stories that are real and life affirming.”
“I wanted to chronicle both the white-knuckle and humorous experiences – crazies, car accidents, heart attacks, drunks and druggies – that our EMTs and firefighters treated in my day and still do today,” Treece said.
The book may be purchased exclusively on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle editions.
