Courage in the Classroom and Beyond: Teacher and Firefighter Caitlyn Roberts
The September sun warmed the playground at Margaretville Central School this morning as the sound of children’s laughter filled the air. Kindergarten teacher Caitlyn Roberts sat at a picnic table, keeping watchful eyes on her students while sharing her story with me. Every few minutes, the interview would stop: a child needed help with a jacket, another had bumped their head, and a non-English-speaking student required some gentle reassurance in Spanish.
That seamless juggling—teacher, comforter, problem-solver—captures who Roberts is. And yet, when the school day ends, she trades phonics lessons and recess duty for a radio and turnout gear. Roberts is also a volunteer firefighter with the Arkville Fire Department.
A Day of Sirens
Just yesterday Caitlyn found herself in the thick of an extraordinary stretch of calls. “About 2:30, quarter of, Arena Fire District called for a fully involved structure fire,” she recalled. “With such small departments with low manpower... time is crucial. Margaretville was dispatched after so many minutes. And then when it was confirmed, Arkville and Fleischmanns were called. And I believe, Andes, too.” Caitlyn is part of Arkville Fire Department–they run mutual aid to other towns in the area when called.
She described how the fire call coincided with the need to set up a helicopter landing zone nearby: “I just come back in from dropping my kids off at the bus and my mom calls and says, hey, can you come and run the LZ so that we can send more guys up to the fire?”
With her students safely on buses or in after-school programs, Roberts got the go-ahead from her Building Administrator, Mr. Marks, and grabbed her radio, and rushed to help. Amazingly, by evening, she was back at school for open house. But the night didn’t end there.
After she got home, had dinner and was about to head to bed, “All of a sudden, pager’s going off, texts are coming in. I’m like, what is happening?” she said. “I see the text saying, we have a structure fire on Main Street. I'm thinking, oh no. The buildings are so close. It was scary thinking one of them could be on fire. It also could be dangerous.”
Minutes later, her department was also called to a vehicle fire threatening nearby structures. While all the other trucks and members went to Margaretville, another firefighter and I went to Fleischmanns. We went up in case they needed to set up a site to pump water. As we got on scene, I geared up and she stayed with the truck. "I remember going up to the guy in charge and he had me grab the hose from one of the others. Soon they had the fire under control, thankfully."
"As we listened to the call in Margaretville, they kept calling for interior manpower. I asked if he still needed me or if we were released. Soon I was grabbing one of his guys who is interior and we headed down to town, he was told to report to our officers once he got there." Once she got there she headed up to Main Street to find her crew outside of the building where the fire had been located. Thankfully it was quickly found and extinguished.
She recalls, “I’m standing on Main Street at midnight helping clean up,and going, do I call out tomorrow? I’m like nope, it’s Friday. I have a new kiddo starting.”
A Community That Shows Up
Roberts paused at the picnic table as her students swirled around her. When she spoke of what makes her community special, her voice softened and her eyes seemed misty. “The departments are 100% volunteer,” she said. “You’ve got people from all different jobs, coming together during all different times to help. You have town workers (highway and office), retirees, state employees, city employees, private business workers and owners, and so many others. One of our guys yesterday—he was able to leave work and drive the tanker. Others were able to come and provide exterior manpower. That’s what they needed, water and workers. It is awesome that we also have businesses and work places that allow us to leave when it is really necessary.”
She reflected on the spirit of service that defines Arkville and the departments around here. “We are a great team (Arkville), we all work well together, and do what needs to be done. It goes the same when we show up on the scene and there’s multiple departments there, we do what is needed of us. It's similar when you look at the partnership between the workplaces and the volleys (volunteers). That’s what we need, because if you can’t leave, sometimes it’s hard. But thankfully, some of our people have those jobs that can let them leave depending on the nature of the call. Or even like me yesterday, it worked. All my kids were where they needed to be and I was able to leave and, you know, help my community.”
Looking at her, surrounded by kindergartners tugging at sleeves and calling her name, it’s clear that Roberts’ commitment runs deep. Whether at a fire scene in the middle of the night or on a playground at midday, she shows up—steady, present, and ready to serve her community and her kiddos.
Roberts also shared the following Monday that the department had two simultaneous calls again Friday evening and then another landing zone Saturday night into Sunday morning. Talk about a busy weekend!