| Our station is located on the campus
of the University of Maryland, College Park. Located directly
above the apparatus bays, the sackroom is designed like a campus
dormitory. Each semester, eighteen full time student volunteers
live in the sackroom. In exchange for their housing, they work
three to four evening duty shifts per week. While they can ride
as many calls as they like, their duty shift is the only required
riding time. As the core of our operations, each student volunteer
makes several hundred responses per semester. They serve in all
capacities including: firefighter, EMT, ambulance driver, engine
driver, truck driver, line officer, and staff officers. |
| The sackroom provides the best student
live-in accommodations of any station in the region. We are directly
across the street from the University of Maryland’s engineering
quad; home of the world famous fire protection engineering program.
The entire campus is within easy walking distance from the firehouse.
The sackroom has twelve two person, fully furnished, dormitory
style rooms. Each pair of rooms is joined by a common bathroom.
The rooms are carpeted, furnished, have free cable TV, free high-speed
internet, and an advanced alerting system so the members never
miss a call. Student line officers and ladder truck drivers are
typically rewarded with a single room. At either end of the sackroom
are brass fire poles to ensure a quick response to the apparatus
fleet below. In between studying and riding calls, the live-ins
find plenty of time to go out on the town or tailgate at the big
game. |
| Today’s sackroom is officially
known as the John L. Bryan Fire Service Dormitory. Prof. Bryan
was the long time chairman of the University of Maryland’s
fire protection engineering department. The original sackroom
was closely associated with Prof. Bryan and the FPE department.
He realized College Park provided the perfect learning combination
for FPE students: see what happens as a firefighter and then learn
why it happens as an engineer. Through his guidance, CPVFD established
and grew the most successful student firefighting program in the
country. Sackroom and department graduates have gone on to successful
careers all over the country. We have named the sackroom in honor
of Prof. Bryan. His legacy continues today as Professor James
Milke, Department of Fire Protection Engineering, oversees the
administration of the sackroom. While our students stay busy,
we never forget their reason for being here is to earn a quality
education. |