New Kensington's Flanick Finds Service Calling in Local Fire Department

This is the fourth in a series of stories about PSUAC student-athletes, coaches and administrators who have made a difference during their time at Penn State. Enjoy!

By Megan Bratkovich, Director of Athletics, Penn State New Kensington

NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. – Penn State New Kensington student-athlete Joey Flanick has a full load of classes this fall, but there is one class you won’t find in the Penn State Bulletin. Along with the standard first-year fare such as “Introduction to Psychology” and “Rhetoric and Composition,” Flanick has been picking up the books to learn “Basic Vehicle Rescue” three days a week.

“We are learning techniques on how to extract people from cars,” said Flanick, who is completing his first semester at the campus.

In addition to his Penn State classes and soccer sessions, Flanick is learning how to perform rescues from cars and train accidents in order to obtain additional certifications for his role as a volunteer firefighter for the borough of Oakmont, Pa.

The son of Oakmont Assistant Fire Chief Joe Flanick, he spent many hours around the fire department growing up, knowing he would need to wait until he was 21-years old in order to join.

“I kind of just went there and hung out,” shared Flanick. “When there was a call, I would run down there with my dad. I would run to the fire station and then run to the call after just for fun to help out.”

When he was 17-years old, he realized he had friends in surrounding towns that were able to join their fire departments as junior firefighters. He wondered if “all these other places are doing it, why can’t I?”

Hopeful for a change in Oakmont, Flanick began doing research on other departments and gathered standards that might be adopted by his borough. He brought his research forward to the department and said, “Why can’t we do this?”  

Ultimately, the borough of Oakmont and its fire department made changes to the bylaws so that young men and women can become a junior firefighter at age 16, and anyone aged 18 or older can become a firefighter. 

On August 5, 2019, Flanick became the first junior firefighter for the borough of Oakmont and became a full firefighter after turning 18 just a few month later.

“There was actually nobody under 21 before me,” he remembered.

Flanick is now an interior firefighter, meaning that he can enter buildings to fight fires, climb ladders, cut cars and complete anything necessary at a scene. As for calls, “As a volunteer, I go whenever I can. [An alert] could hit out right now, and I’d go.”

Since Flanick paved the way for the junior program in Oakmont, he has been able to recruit some of his schoolmates and helped add three new junior firefighters to the ranks.

Besides his courses for certification, Flanick participates in departmental meetings and trainings on Tuesday evenings. By the end of the year, he will have put in almost 300 hours of training.

Aside from his training, fire calls, and college coursework, Flanick also trains with the soccer program in a small group session three times per week. Although he misses playing in games, he is staying positive and noted that the lighter fall schedule has helped him ease into classes and get to know his coaches and some of his teammates better.

“Ever since I started to recruit Joey, he’s been nothing but first class,” said New Kensington’s head men’s soccer coach, Mark Duffield. “He is one of the nicest, well-mannered young men I’ve ever met. He is popular already with his teammates.”

Flanick is anxious to finally begin competition with the soccer program in the spring. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what this team can do. This is the best team I’ve been around…so I want to see how far we can actually make it.”

"I believe he will add to our attacking threat," said Coach Duffield of Flanick's role in the team's success for the upcoming spring season.

Inspired by his parents, Flanick is planning to declare a major in business with a concentration in management and marketing. “My dad has his own electrical business, and my mom has her own candle shop,” he shared. Flanick talked about aspirations of having his own business and being able to join a paid fire department in the future.

For now, he’s just your ordinary student-athlete that also fights fires and saves lives from time to time.