Just over a decade ago, Marc Bergen invited a bunch of friends over for a barbeque. Many of the guys were involved in the Niverville Fire Department, including the chief, Keith Bueckert.
“Well, Keith said they were looking for guys for the fire department, and I’ve lived here forever and I believe it’s important to step up for your community,” Bergen says. “So I sent in a resume, and here I am, 11 years later.”
It wasn’t something he had ever thought of doing, and certainly it was completely different from his day job working for Culligan Water. But he enjoyed the training, first as a firefighter and then as an emergency medical responder, so he has stuck with it.
“There’s a lot of training involved,” he says. “There are a lot of hours of learning that go into being able to effectively fight a fire.”
All firefighters have to pass a series of tests, proving they have the necessary skills and knowledge to handle an emergency. Bergen recalls studying everything from how to use equipment like hydrants, pumps, and hoses to techniques for extracting people from buildings or cars. He also learned about the chemistry of a fire.
“You have to know how fire works, what to look for, to be able to assess how to fight it, whether it’s inside or outside and how it’s reacting to conditions.”
Born and raised in Niverville, Bergen says he has always valued the sense of community that comes from living in a small town. He points out that working with the fire department is part of that.
“It’s always a team effort, with a great group of people, and I appreciate the chance to get to know people within the department and in the community at large,” Bergen says. “And of course, knowing I can help people is a great feeling.”
Being able to help people when they’re experiencing an emergency makes the late-night calls worth it, Bergen says. When his pager goes off, whether he’s asleep, eating dinner with his family, or attending church, he leaps into action.
“First I freeze for a second, because it’s startling when it goes off,” he says. “But then I prepare my mind and there’s an adrenaline rush. Then I get to the hall with everybody else, and I get assigned a vehicle and my duties. And I definitely get nervous, depending on what the call is. I always just hope that at the end of the day everyone is going to be safe and all right.”
Once he gets to the site of a call, Bergen says all nerves disappear and all he can think about is the job at hand.
“I’m always focused on that moment. I don’t stop to think about anything else. There’s no time for anything else, because somebody needs help. That’s why I keep doing it, really—because somebody needs help.”
