MONTOURSVILLE, Pa. — The Montoursville Fire Department provides fire and EMS services throughout the Montoursville area. It has quite a few members, and all are volunteers.
Something that makes this department stand out: It offers a live-in program. Firefighters live at the department.
"A member of our organization gets to live at the fire station rent-free. With that, they get any training, gear provided, they have modern housing, they have access to gym facilities, study areas if they're college students, laundry areas within the fire station," Montoursville Fire Department President Jeff Kukuchka said.
The program started about 20 years ago. Kukuchka says they are currently looking for new members.
"Whether it be somebody currently attending Pennsylvania College of Technology or Lycoming College, or if it's someone who just graduated from high school and they're not sure what they want to do yet and they want to get some life experience," Kukuchka said.
"Not only do we get to live here for free, I get to do what I love and that's a huge benefit," said Ryan Koubek, a member of the program for over a year.
Koubek is a senior at Penn College and does not pay for student housing because he lives there.
"It's an amazing experience. Coming in, I mean I had fire experience prior to getting here, but this place really hones and takes pride on training and the skills of the people who work here," Koubek said.
Live-ins are required to cover ambulance shifts twice a week and fill in when they are able. Members say the program is a win-win.
"One of the things we pride ourselves on is our ability to have quick responses in the community. Our residents deserve that, and with having live-ins here, as well as some of our members who are close, we're able to do that very quickly," Kukuchka said.
For more information about the live-in program, click here.