SALISBURY — Sitting in the Salisbury fire station adorned in turnout gear, it would be easy to mistake Triton High senior Nick Serino as a member of the department.
While that may happen one day, for now the Rowley resident is spending his weekdays at the department as its first Triton intern.
“For our first intern, Nick has been a great addition. He’s been attentive, on time every day, and we really enjoy having him,” Fire Captain Andrew Murphy said.
Murphy explained that Triton reached out to Salisbury Fire Chief Scott Carrigan and asked if the department would host an intern this year.
“Nick came in for an interview with the fire chief. The chief saw his qualities and thought it would be really good to bring him in,” Murphy said.
Serino’s father, John Serino, has been on the job as a firefighter in Revere for about 20 years. He said watching his dad was a big part of why he took the internship opportunity.
“I wanted to see exactly what it took,” Serino said.
Nick Serino’s internship covers most of April and May with his first day taking place April 8 and his last day scheduled for May 24. He spends five hours a day every weekday at the department from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Nick’s been with us for about a month now. He rides the trucks with the firefighters, goes on medical calls, brush fires, structure fires. He’s basically been with us and part of the team,” Murphy said.
Nick Serino spoke about what some of his duties have been.
They’ve been very safe—they don’t want me getting hurt, which is a good thing. For medical aids, I hold the med kit. During brush fires, I help deliver hose to the people actively fighting the fires. They take it case-by-case,” Nick Serino said.
He said his favorite call so far was responding to a brush fire last Thursday.
“That whole day was full of activity. Before we even went to the fire, I did something called a consumption drill, which is them timing how long I can go on 10 minutes’ worth of air,” Serino said.
Doing intense exercise in full gear with the 10-minute air supply, Serino lasted just under 10 minutes during the training, impressing Murphy.
“We’re ready to hire him someday. He’s doing great,” Murphy said.
Nick Serino got to operate the hose himself Tuesday as he received supervised nozzle training. Accompanied and supervised by three firefighters, he used a hose to extinguish a controlled fire behind the station.
As part of the internship, Nick Serino has to have a zoom call with fellow interns and an advisor once a week.
“Its progress reports, but also a bunch of housekeeping, stuff we might have missed at school,” Nick Serino said.
He shared that he wants to continue pursuing a career as a firefighter in college.
“I plan on going to the University of New Haven for fire science,” Nick Serino said.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.