Brian Applegate
What’s your area of study, and which forms of certification are you settling on?
My major is fire science generalist with a public administration minor. My goal is to be a certified firefighter/paramedic with the knowledge and skills that any job requires, and also have some background in management. Down the road in my career I will test for promotional positions, and with the public administration minor I will be at an advantage when it comes to supervising co-workers and being put into an officer role in the fire department. Along with firefighting, Lake State offers a hazardous materials technician certification, which I have taken advantage of and will pursue in my career as a firefighter.
What attracted you to this program from Chicago?
Believe it or not, my eighth-grade science teacher turned me onto Lake Superior State. He is a big Laker hockey fan and a local paid-on-call firefighter. When he said that Lake Superior State had a fire science program, I knew that Lake State was the place for me. Also, my dad is a career Lieutenant in the fire service. I wound up looking into the university during my junior year of high school and got all the necessary information from the admissions office, applied and was accepted.
What kind of field experiences (e.g., the outdoor fire lab) have you
enjoyed so far through the program?
Since coming to Lake State, I’ve enjoyed a variety of field experiences and hands-on training. During our firefighter certification training classes we endure real situations. The program has a great training tower that can be filled with smoke to simulate a various fire situations. This lets us practice safe victim search techniques while controlling and extinguishing fires. The training also promotes teamwork and camaraderie among crews, which is something the fire service is all about. And Lake State promotes that intensely. Adjacent to the training tower, we have a live fire flashover simulator. This gives us the ability to see how fires evolve while burning, and really gives us a gut feeling into how intense heat is at different stages of a fire. The flashover simulator is my favorite because it’s as real as you can get to the real thing and still have fun. My hazardous materials technician class is also great for hands-on training. We simulate HAZMAT situations with interesting equipment from local, state, and federal agencies. A really close relationship between LSSU’s fire science department and the Sault Ste. Marie Fire Department allows experienced specialists to come in as outside instructors and further our education on different topics. That gives students more confidence and knowledge to perform their job effectively.
Have you had any summer interning experiences or a job in a fire department?
I’ve spent two summers interning with the Glenwood, Illinois, fire department, about 25 miles south of Chicago. I am technically employed with them now. I graduate in May and already I have a job. It has two operating fire stations that are staffed 24-hours a day to protect about 10,500 homes and businesses. We’re a fairly busy department, answering approximately 1,500 emergency calls a year. We provide advanced life support EMS service as well.
Have you had a “neat moment” that makes all of the studying and working to be a firefighter worthwhile?
Anytime I get to help someone in need is a rewarding day for me. I'll never forget the first fire I responded to and how I got to apply the skills I’d been taught. Training and studying prepares you for any job. I responded to a kitchen fire about a year ago. My skills kept someone’s home from becoming a total loss. It turned into just a room that needed repairing. This had a profound effect on me, because here you had a family that was not displaced. Without going through LSSU’s professional program and receiving the training, I would have never performed as well as I did. It’s extremely rewarding when fellow firefighters tell you what a good job you’ve done, and you realize that you’ve gotten to that point because of the time you’ve invested in a university fire science program. One of my primary functions as a firefighter now is to drive fire apparatus on emergency calls, which is a neat thing. The pumps/hydraulics class I went through made it possible to move up to this position.
What are some of your outside interests?
I love to play sports and explore the outdoors, which is great because Lake State and its surroundings provide both of these things. I’ve played ice hockey and baseball competitively for a long time. I still play hockey in a Chicago men’s league with my father. It’s a great stress reliever and workout away from the firehouse for both of us. I also enjoy skiing, and playing golf with friends and co-workers. I also like to workout and stay in shape because firefighters like to eat a lot. In the summertime I go boating, tubing, and water skiing out on Lake Michigan. Hopefully in the near future I'll get to travel more, because I like to see new places.
