Tribute to Brown County first responders

This story is part one of the “Tribute to Brown County first responders” series by Wade Linville (editor of The News Democrat, The Ripley Bee, and The Brown County Press).

Mike Young started his service as a firefighter with the Sardinia Fire Department, now part of the Eastern Joint Fire/EMS District, in August of 1974. He currently serves as the fire department’s assistant chief.

Young was only around six years old when he first became interested in becoming a firefighter.

“My aunt came to the school where I was going, which was Whiteoak, I was in the first grade. She said, ‘You need to go home, your house burned,’” recalled Young. “They rebuilt the house and that’s where I grew up at, but that was my first real connection to the fire department.”

Helping others in need was something he wanted to do in life, and to become a firefighter quickly became a goal for Mike Young as a child.

Later in life, Young assisted Mowrystown, unofficially, on a couple of emergency runs.

His primary employer at the time had an in-house fire brigade that Young was involved with.

He married in 1971 and moved to the village of Sardinia. It wasn’t long after moving to Sardinia that Young pursued a position with the Sardinia Fire Department. He would have to wait before serving, as the Sardinia Fire Department had a one-year residency requirement before joining, and he would start with the department in 1974.

In the mid 1970s when Sardinia was forming a life squad, Young was in the first class of EMT’s, completing basic EMT training in late 1975 and running with the life squad for nearly 20 years.

Young said his primary job at SENCO was changing in the mid 1990s, and his busy work schedule didn’t allow time for him to continue to make emergency runs with the life squad.

He retired from SENCO in 2016, but continued to work with them part-time for another year-and-a-half before finally parting ways with SENCO after working there for more than 47 years.

Young finds reward in being able to help others during stressful times in their lives.

“It’s rewarding in the fact that we can go in and help people who are under stress in an emergency, whether it’s a fire run where they’ve lost part of their house or the entire structure, and even on EMS runs. The fire department responds with the EMS on all motor vehicle accidents so we can help the people involved and do our very best to make it easier on them,” said Young.

With the village of Sardinia located along the busy State Route 32, Sardinia first responders receive a number of emergency calls for vehicle crashes.

“We’ve seen our fair share of incidents along the 32 corridor,” said Young.

When asked what he enjoyed most about serving with the fire department/EMS squad in addition to being able to help others in their time of need, Young said, “The camaraderie between the other people who work here, firefighters and EMS as well.”

When questioned about some of his most memorable moments as a Sardinia firefighter, Young recalled the time when firefighters were called to respond to an active structure fire at the department’s firehouse.

“Probably the most memorable fire would have been the fire here at our fire station in 1995,” said Young. “On July 4 at 1:48 a.m., we were dispatched to a structure fire at our firehouse, and it was pretty much fully engulfed.”

“That was a very, very stressful night. Our local people responded, but because of the extent of the fire when we got here there was no way to make entry to the building to get any of the equipment or trucks out. Our personal equipment was in there, so all we could do was wait on Mt. Orab, Georgetown, Mowrystown, and other departments to show up. There were around six to eight departments here that night,” said Young.

The fire department lost nearly everything in the fire, with its primary fire engine among the several trucks that were destroyed.

The cause of the fire was arson and the person responsible was convicted.

The Sardinia Fire Department was able to rebuild following the fire, being loaned equipment from other local fire departments until able to purchase its own equipment, and have equipment that was destroyed replaced with upgraded equipment.

A new, larger firehouse was also constructed.

When Young first started as a firefighter, fire departments in the county were volunteer departments; but that has changed over the years with the larger village’s in the county now having full-time fire departments. For those wishing to pursue a job as a first responder in Brown County, it has now become a career opportunity to serve with some local fire departments and EMS squads.

No experience is necessary to apply at most local fire departments for an entry level position, and if selected you can receive training to start your career as a firefighter.

“The fire departments have changed so much in the past 30 to 40 years. When I first started here, there were virtually no opportunities for a paying position. If you were looking for a paying position, there were none,” explained Young. “There was nobody in Brown County that I’m aware of that had paid staff at that time. Today, the opportunity is out there. Every department in the area is looking for additional personnel.”

In addition to serving as a local firefighter and EMT, Young also served as a Georgetown police officer in the mid 1970s and was mayor of Sardinia in the early 1980s.

He has served under six fire department chiefs during his years as a Sardinia firefighter – Bob Sears, Don Kirker, Fred Kirker, Lee Naylor, Chris Schumacher, and Tommy Kirker.

Young also became certified as a firefighter instructor and for years instructed at Southern Hills Joint Vocational School (currently Southern Hills Career/Technical Center) from the late 1990s until around 2006. Over the years, Young was involved with instructing many fire training classes.

“It really has been rewarding,” Young said of his years as a local first responder.