Richmond girl gets experience as youngest EMT

By Joey Hislop

April 26, 2005 | RICHMOND -- Most people remember what their parents gave them for their eighteenth birthday. Kizzi Murray of Richmond is no exception. Then again, how could she forget? Her birthday present, a pager, buzzes and makes a noise every time someone summons the help of the Richmond City Fire Department, and that's more often than you might think.

At 18, Kizzi is the youngest member of her town's volunteer fire department, a squad that is over 30 citizens strong. Kizzi may be the greenie in the department but she doesn't sound like a rookie, nor do her fellow volunteers treat her as one.

"Our department is really good about helping you learn," Kizzi said, "they don't say 'hey rookie, go and do this,' they help you learn."

Her duties on the fire department aren't too much for her to handle, nor are they really all that foreign to her. Her father, Robert Murray, is the Assistant Fire Chief in the department and has been a volunteer there for almost 20 years now. She knows the ropes.

"On certain days you're on call, so you have to stay inside city limits," Kizzi said, "even if you're in Logan and your pager goes off you try to get here as fast as you can."

Richmond may be a small town between Smithfield and Idaho, but there is surprisingly no shortage of work for this group of volunteers. In her short time in the department she has responded to numerous calls.

"I've been to quite a few, actually," Kizzi said, "I've been on more EMT calls and wrecks than I've been on fires."

The experience is great for Kizzi, whose dream it has been to become a nurse someday. For a person her age she has a rather impressive list of qualifications. Aside from the fire department Kizzi is also a certified basic EMT, nurse's aid, and phlebotomist (draws blood). Kizzi is not yet a certified fire fighter but hopes to become certified next year.

Kizzi is currently studying at USU and Bridgerland to become a trauma nurse. She also works graveyard at Logan Regional Hospital as a housekeeper. Kizzi works in the ER of the hospital and has been able to get some good real world experience.

"The ER is really good about letting me come in and watch," Kizzi said, "I'm learning a lot just by watching."

While most of her peers were partying and having fun their senior year of high school, Kizzi was hard at work in pursuit of her dream to become a nurse.

"My high school years weren't fun," Kizzi said, "senior year you're supposed to be partying and I wasn't. I want to get school done and over with."

Kizzi plans on continuing to juggle her schedule between school, work, and the fire department, atleast for the time being. She will soon apply to the LPN program at Bridgerland upon completing future course work.

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