Kyle Lewis was more than ready to answer the call for free housing for his final semester at Slippery Rock University. But in doing so, he had to be prepared to also answer another type of call — the kind that comes in the middle of night — when the Slippery Rock community needs him as a first responder.

SLIPPERY ROCK — As a budget-conscious college student, Kyle Lewis was more than ready to answer the call for free housing for his final semester at Slippery Rock University.

But in doing so, he had to be prepared to also answer another type of call — the kind that comes in the middle of night — when the Slippery Rock community needs him as a first responder.

Lewis, a senior safety management major from Butler, is the first SRU student to take advantage of a live-in program created by the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company and Rescue Team last year.

For the fall semester, Lewis is living in a 400-square-foot bunk room, just one of the amenities inside SRVFC's 5,500-square-foot Rescue Building near the corner of Elm and New Castle streets.

The SRVFC provides his housing in exchange for Lewis remaining on call for four overnight duty periods per week.

A paramedic's son, who considered the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company's ambulance station his “second home” as a child, Lewis doesn't mind having an unconventional home.

“It's free housing; I just have to keep my room clean,” Lewis said with a laugh and no mention of the greater responsibility of protecting the property and lives of people in the community. “I figured this would help the station by being the first one through the wall and figuring out what works and what doesn't so we can get it going.”

A certified emergency medical technician for the last seven years, Lewis has taken up one of the six empty bunks that SRVFC officers hope become occupied by other students interested in the new live-in program.

Among the requirements to enter the program, Lewis earned his Pennsylvania Firefighter 1 Certification in June, which is also offered by the SRVFC through Butler County Community College.

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“The days of volunteer firefighters are slowly coming to an end,” said Ryan Hanchosky, chief of SRVFC. “The amount of people who find time to do the training required for the fire department is getting slim, but there's a lot of kids who are coming to SRU who already trained in their hometowns and come to the university with fire and EMS backgrounds. So we decided to open our facility to try to get some people to help on our end running fire and ambulance calls by creating the live-in program.”

According to Hanchosky, there are about 25 volunteer firefighters at the SRVFC, which responds to upward of 500 fire calls per year. For a truck to respond to a call, there needs to be at least three firefighters available, two of whom need to have FF1 certification.

“It's a big benefit for us to have someone who is trained, qualified and ready to respond,” Hanchosky said.

Additionally, SRVFC responds to about 1,800 ambulance calls per year. Those runs are covered by EMTs and a number of the firefighters, who, like Lewis, are certified EMTs. However, at any time there are at least two full-time EMTs on duty.

“When a job needs done and you're in dangerous situations, that's where the camaraderie comes in,” said Lewis, who often answers calls outside of his regular 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. duty periods. “You suck it up and do it. There could be a big fire or a bad accident and you haven't slept, but you're in it together.”

Lewis recalls at least one night so far this semester that required responding to multiple overnight calls: an alarm set off at the university, someone's patio furniture catching fire and a car accident on Interstate-79.

“It's been a little more hectic (compared to his previous year at SRU living in an off-campus apartment),” said Lewis, who transferred to SRU from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2017 and joined the SRVFC as a volunteer that spring. “I have to plan my nights ahead of time. I can't go out with my buddies when I have to be on duty at 11 p.m. Every once in a while it kicks into your sleep but anyone who is an EMT or a firefighter lives that lifestyle.”

The experience is worthwhile for Lewis, who aspires to work in safety management in the construction industry after graduating from SRU in December.

Lewis said he is able to utilize the rescue building's conference room as his personal study space, and takes advantage of the station's other amenities, such as wireless Internet, a workout room and a common room where he can watch television and socialize with the other on-call EMTs.