Young Firefighter, EMT Has Abundance of Heart

Long before she ever became a volunteer firefighter and EMT at Holiday Park Volunteer Fire Department or a member of its Quick Response Service, Becca Miller wanted to be a part of such efforts.

“When I was a kid, I always liked firefighters and firefighting,” 17-year old Miller said. “But I didn’t know you could join.”

About two years ago, the Holiday Park resident found out that she in fact could join the fire department, and so she did just that. At the beginning of the fish fry season, Miller became a special member of Holiday Park Station 236, she said.

The December before last, she said, she became a junior firefighter. Since then, the high school senior at Faith Christian School in Wilkins Township has been training and volunteering at the fire department.

She’s completed all the education she can at the Allegheny County Fire Academy in Allison Park, including three modules comprised of lectures and practicals.

Miller also completed her certification as an Emergency Medical Technician-Basic last year, which included more than 150 hours of training and testing.

“She takes tons of training,” said Erica Walsh, a fellow Holiday Park volunteer firefighter and EMT. “She’s good at it. Her heart is in it.”

Walsh said Miller has also kept busy with sports, including track, basketball and volleyball, as well as with babysitting for her little brother, Jeffery Noll, age 6, and Walsh’s sons, age 3 and 7.

The classes Miller has taken covered the essential skills involved in firefighting. In those classes, she’s learned to use a fire hydrant, climb ladders up to the second, third and fourth stories of a building, practice forcible entry and pry doors open, and don her gear—including boots, pants, jacket, helmet and SCBA equipment—properly, all in 60 seconds or less.

“It was a lot of work,” Miller said of the classes, which she started late this past winter. “It was hard, but you could have fun with it. You get to meet a lot of great people doing it.”

When she turns eighteen in August, Miller will be eligible to take a fourth training module, which will enable her to become an interior firefighter, she said. That means she’ll be able to enter burning buildings.

Other training that Miller has received includes Basic Vehicle Rescue and a cadaver lab with presentations on trauma cases. These trainings were related to her involvement with another life-saving pursuit – being part of the Quick Response Service.

QRS, as it’s commonly known, assists Plum Borough Emergency Management System with calls.

“For example, if someone falls down their steps, you go to their house and get there before the ambulance service,” she explained.

That isn't likely isn’t the end of Miller’s training. Upon graduation, she said she plans to attend Westmoreland Community College, preparing for a career in nursing, physical therapy or perhaps sports medicine.

Her friend and fellow firefighter sees a bright future ahead for Miller.

“I think she’d be good at anything she did,” Walsh said.