By Grey Backus
Sirens and more sirens. He flies down the road in an EMS car to get to the site of the accident.
Sophomore, Lucas Firestone works with his dad, Doug Firestone, at the Hamilton Township Volunteer Fire Department. He helps put out fires and assists people that have medical emergencies.
Being only 16, Lucas can prevent a fire from spreading, but he cannot run into a burning building.
Lucas, who suffers from type 1 diabetes, was diagnosed with it at 6 years old. Although he has diabetes it does not slow him down.
“I know his diabetes has always tried to hold him back, but he’s a strong guy and he just kept fighting it,” Amir Wright-Hill said.
Amir is also a sophomore and has been good friends with Lucas since eighth grade. Recently Amir saw Lucas grabbing a medical kit out of the back of the EMS car and helping a person that was in a car wreck in front of him.
“Overall I was just very surprised,” Amir said. “I didn’t think (him working at accident sites) was true. I always thought he was lying to me ….”
Another thing that Lucas does is stand ready on the football sidelines in his uniform during games. He is there to help people who get injured on the football field that would need emergency medical attention.
Lucas has been playing football since he was in 5th grade and has been playing every year up to this season. In mid-July Lucas had a seizure and could no longer play football this year, but he still gets to go out and be with everyone.
“Since I couldn’t play football this year due to my seizure, I’ve always liked doing the EMS standby for football games because I still get to be out there and have fun,” Lucas said.
Lucas has learned most of his skills from his father, Doug, who is the fire chief of the Hamilton Township Fire Department. He thinks about being a firefighter in the future.
Even though he has diabetes it does not hold him back.
“That’s one of those things where I just have to pay extra attention to it and knock out those problems because there’s plenty of diabetics that have done major careers like NFL players,” Lucas said.
