By Will Garbe
The Dayton Daily News
RIVERSIDE, Ohio — It was a small gesture to the city of Riverside, but one that caught the fire chief’s eye.
A young volunteer EMT and U.S. Air Force member, 1st Lt. Austin Troya wanted to give back to the city he voluntarily serves.
“Austin had sent me a note about making a gesture to the city of Riverside and I thought it was really special,” said Mark Carpenter, the city’s fire chief and interim city manager.
Troya asked if he could return his $10 per-call stipend back to the city. It’s a small gesture, but one that adds up. In 2014, Riverside volunteers responded to more than 370 emergencies.
“As a government employee, I know everyone is suffering fiscally,” Troya said during a recent council meeting, where the chief had asked him to tell council about his gesture.
“I’d like to donate my volunteer earnings back to the department and purchase some things for the station,” he said.
Using that money, Troya purchased two picnic tables for the city’s fire stations.
“One of the stations didn’t have a table outside and the other had an old wooden one they were getting rid of,” he said.
Riverside Fire Department volunteers standby at the station as they are able, but are paid only when they respond to a call.
Troya, of San Diego, joined the Navy ROTC in high school and earned an Air Force ROTC scholarship. He attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Airzona, earned a degree in electrical engineering and graduated in 2013.
He attended officer training school, received a commission and is now stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He is currently working on the KC-46 aircrew training system simulator and intends to attend the Air Force Institute of Technology this fall.
Fire service is something extra that Troya chooses to do, the chief said.
“He’s always had an interest himself in being in the fire service, so while he was here at Wright-Patt he took the EMT class at Sinclair, just on a whim, and he started riding along with us so he could complete his clinicals,” Carpenter said. “And then he began as a volunteer.”
Copyright 2016 the Dayton Daily News