Luling firefighters become first paid professionals in department’s history

Go through 14-week ‘military boot camp’

Two employees of the Luling Volunteer Fire Department completed a 14-week course and returned to full-time work, ushering in a “new era in having paid, professional fire fighters on duty,” according to the department.

“It’s more or less a military boot camp. It not only gives them the knowledge needed for firefighting, but it also gives them the discipline, respect and responsibility that comes along with it—which is great,” said Christopher Switzer, deputy chief of the Luling Volunteer Fire Department

Britton Allshouse, 20, and Kody Dufrene, 21, completed the training after being hired last May as part of the department’s effort to provide consistent coverage for the parish, according to Luling Chief Craig Petit. Prior to this, both Allshouse and Dufrene were volunteer firefighters within the parish—Allshouse in Hahnville and Dufrene in Luling.

“All my life I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter,” Allshouse said. “I was actually in PTEC school and I gave that up to pursue this.”

Before Dufrene found this position, he said he was considering a job in Oklahoma City. A friend of his father’s worked for the fire department there and offered to have him come up. Dufrene also briefly considered positions in St. Tammany Parish, but the Luling opportunity appeared before he had the chance to apply elsewhere.

“I saw the position and I said ‘Hey, look, it’s my hometown, I might as well protect it,’” Dufrene said. “It was a very tough experience going through the academy, waking up at 6:30 every morning doing and hour to two hours of [fitness training]—that ranges from running six miles to racking hose—it was long days.”

In the short term, the training that Allshouse and Dufrene have received allows them to fill a coverage gap in medical response which, Petit said, stems from a lack of a third paramedic unit.

“That’s taxing us pretty heavily because it keeps our units constantly on the go,” Petit said.

Petit said that in the past, it was easier to cover the different shifts with volunteers, because many volunteers worked evening or overnight shifts at their regular jobs. In recent years, however, most if not all volunteers work the regular daytime shift, leaving a gap that is now filled by the two new firefighters.

In addition to filling that gap, the addition of paid staff also allows maintenance to be performed and fire hydrant checks to be conducted.

Petit said the fire department plans to send a third paid employee, currently working part time, to the 14-week academy. Upon completion, that employee, he said, would also become a full time firefighter.

“They’re a big asset to the department,” Petit said. “They’ve worked out very well.”