Source: Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA)
Author: NATALIA MUNOZ
GOSHEN, MA – Fire Chief Francis Dresser can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that makes a good firefighter. But when a Chicopee couple moved into town last August, they impressed him enough to encourage them to join the town’s volunteer Fire Department.
“You go looking for character, I guess, a type of person who is sort of stable, responsible. Someone who does not necessarily have a lot of time but will commit it. You look for busy people – they are the ones that work out. It’s a little hard to define. You get a feel for it,” Dresser said.
“Gee, we never thought we could be firefighters,” was the response from Robert and Sue Labrie when Dresser said they should consider the job.
The Labries of South Chesterfield Road had some relevant experience to bring to the department. As members of the ski patrol at Mount Tom during the winter ski season, they knew first aid procedures.
Apart from their technical skills and enthusiasm for contributing to the town, the Labries said they’re just helping out in ways they hope others will help them, if they were ever victims of a road accident or fire.
“I think the way we felt about this was, if we were ever in a car accident or fire, we’d want someone to help us,” Robert Labrie said. “So our thought was, if someone can do it for us, we want to do it for someone.”
There are about 25 volunteers in the Fire Department, Dresser said. Sue Labrie is one of two women.
The Labries, who have full-time jobs at Mass Mutual in Springfield – Sue as a systems analyst, Robert as a comptroller – entered the Hampshire County Fire School shortly after their house was completed last year.
The fire school is a roving training center for volunteers that’s held at various fire departments around the county.
Next Sunday, the Labries and other firefighters will go to Belchertown for a “smokehouse” lesson. They will enter a building swirling in smoke and learn how to use the breathing apparatus, look for victims and get out safely.
Since they joined the department, however, they’ve been part of the response team to many Goshen car and fire incidents.
Last winter, the firefighters’ beeper went off every Saturday six weeks in a row reporting an accident on Route 9.
“There were a string of events,” Robert said. “It got to the point that we got everything together ready to go because we knew what was going to happen.”
At accident scenes, firefighters are called in case of gas spills, potential fires, to aid other officials who respond and to provide whatever comfort to the victims they can.
“Sometimes, just talking to them helps a lot,” said Sue Labrie. “It calms their nerves to hold their hand.”
The Labries have always responded to calls together because, so far, they’ve both been home at the same time when the dispatch beeper buzzes.
On returning home from an incident, they have a range of feelings, from sadness because of loss, to anger at someone who caused an accident because of being intoxicated.
“That leaves a sour taste in your mouth. He could have hurt somebody who was minding their own business,” Robert said, adding, “But you don’t think about it when you’re there.”
The rewards of the work are far-reaching, the Labries said.
“We’ve become friends with a good group of people,” he said of the Fire Department staff. “You know if they’re volunteers, they’re doing it because they like to.”