By Dave Paone
Campus News
Quinn McClain had an awful childhood. Both parents had addictions and divorced when Quinn was seven. She was also overweight and bullied in school and even made two suicide attempts.
But in all this chaos was one oasis of normalcy and calm: the fire department.
When Quinn was in elementary school, her father was a volunteer in the Rockville Centre Fire Department, on Long Island. Quinn found its family-oriented activities, such as department barbeques, a loving environment that counteracted her unstable life at home.
“That’s where I felt safe,” said the 18-year-old. “That’s where everyone was so welcoming.”
The firehouse was her playground. Other volunteers would bring their children so Quinn had plenty of playmates. She even got to ride on the fire truck that drove Santa Claus around town.
School, on the other hand, was a different story. By her freshman year in high school, Quinn was overweight and the target of bullies.
Half way through ninth grade, Quinn transferred to Harmony Heights in Oyster Bay, New York, which is an all-girl, therapeutic school.
“It is such a supportive group of people,” she said. It was there she was able to overcome her anxiety and depression, mostly thanks to the onsite, one-on-one and group therapists.
Quinn was so happy with the results that she became a “big sister” for the school, interviewing prospective students. She’s remained in contact with two friends she made there.
With her life back on track, Quinn decided to join the South Hempstead Fire Department in the hybrid capacity of EMT and firefighter. The idea had been simmering for a while but the event that solidified her decision was kismet.
On the very day she decided to completely quit smoking weed, (“That was the best decision I have ever made”), she received a letter about recruitment, left on her door by members of the department.
“It was like, ′Oh my gosh, this is what I want to do!′” she said. “Thank you for reminding me!”
The letter gave details about an open house at the headquarters and Quinn attended.
A big part of her decision to join the department was her father’s actions on September 11, 2001. Although he was a volunteer firefighter on Long Island, he wound up at ground zero on the day of the terrorist attacks, providing aid to the FDNY and anyone else who needed it.
“He risked his own life just to save people out of the kindness of his heart. That is something heroic to me that I want to live up to,” she said.
Additionally, her mother is a nurse, so with both parents in service to the populace, there were two role models to inspire her decision.
Another part of her decision to join was that service as an EMT and firefighter is real life. To Quinn, real life isn’t getting likes on social media; it’s helping real people with real problems.
Volunteer fire departments on Long Island have been around for 100 years. Almost the entire time they’ve been one, big boys’ club. And a white boys’ club at that.
At the SHFD, not so much. Its current chief, Bryant Carrington, is black and there are members of Haitian, Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage.
Chief Carrington was originally from Cambria Heights, Queens, so he didn’t grow up in the area, making him not just a minority, but an outsider, when he decided to join the department. However, he says he “was welcomed with open arms.” And now he’s the chief.
Quinn graduated from high school last year and took a gap year, partly because online school is not for her, and partly because her mother is currently an ER nurse who needed Quinn’s support during the stressful pandemic.
She’ll start at Nassau Community College in the fall with the plan to become a nutritionist specializing in eating disorders. Quinn herself was bulimic for a while.
“I have hands-on experience with this stuff and I know how to talk to people with eating disorders,” she said.
She plans on two full years at NCC and then finish off her bachelor’s at someplace such as Binghamton University.
Also in the SHFD are Kelli Maher and Kiara Santos, both college students.
Kelli, a criminology major at SUNY Cortland, is a full-fledged EMT and a firefighter-in-training, called a “probie.” A short time ago, a female, volunteer firefighter on Long Island didn’t exist.
Kelli has experienced prejudice from her male counterparts from other departments, who told her she just doesn’t have the physical constitution to do the job.
She doesn’t agree. “There are guys just as small as us,” she said. “Just as small if not even smaller,” said Kiara.
“When they say it, you’re like, ′Oh, really? That’s what you really think? All right, see me in a couple of months. I’ll see you on scene in a couple months′” said Kelli.
“I understand that it used to be a guy’s job,” added the 19-year-old, “Things have changed. At this point in time girls are showing up in the fire side.”
Kiara, both an EMT and firefighter probie, has experienced hassles from male firefighters from other departments as well. “They say that they don’t think that we have what it takes to do what they do,” she said. “I still to this day try to prove them wrong.”
Kiara and Kelli have known each other since they were toddlers. Both their fathers are firefighters at the SHFD and they played with the other children of volunteers at department picnics and Christmas parties when they were little.
For Kiara, volunteering is a true family affair. She’s the third generation to do so, as her grandfather was a member of the Valley Stream Fire Department, and her brother is a member of South Hempstead as well.
It’s pretty much the same thing for Kelli. Her younger brother is joining South Hempstead this month. Her father is a life member and fire commissioner of the district. And she’s dating the department’s lieutenant.
The recurring theme among young volunteers is their fathers set an example.
“Ever since I was little my dad’s always instilled in me and my brothers — and even friends that we brought around — always do the right thing, to help people, see-something-do-something type stuff, and I just thought the fire department was a great example of that,” she said.
Kelli, who turns 20 next month, plans on a career in law enforcement — possibly in a K-9 unit — where she can include her love of animals.
Kiara, who’s headed to SUNY Farmingdale in the fall as a criminal justice major, plans on becoming a detective, or as her BFF, work in a K-9 unit.
While Kiara and Kelli have had derogatory comments made to them by male firefighters from other departments, they’ve never been harassed by any from their own.
In praise of South Hempstead, Kiara said, “We do the right thing here.”
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