New head of LRCC fire science program brings hands-on experience

LACONIA — Nick Mercuri has a passion to help one of the top fire science programs in the country continue to evolve, producing fire and emergency medical service graduates committed to keeping people and communities safe. He joined Lakes Region Community College in January as the new program chair for the fire technologies program and has spent his entire career in the field of emergency services. Mercuri brings decades of leadership and hands-on experience to the program, which is recognized as a Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education program by the U.S. Fire Administration, and is currently ranked as the number four program out of 221 colleges in the U.S.

With experience as a firefighter, lieutenant paramedic and emergency room nurse, and most recently chief of strategy and planning for the New Hampshire Division of Fire Standards and Training and EMS for the New Hampshire Fire Academy, Mercuri brings a range of perspectives and skills.

“We’re taking a look at what the needs are for fire and emergency medical services and making sure that we are aligned with those. We are consistently being called upon to provide more services to our communities, and this program is poised to train the next generation of emergency responders," he said. "Citizens often call 911 because they don’t know who else to call, and we are often the first step into the healthcare system for a lot of people. We provide prevention services, whether medical, safety, or fire protection. Emergency responders are at the intersection of healthcare, public health and public safety, and do much more than just respond to emergencies. For example, departments may do blood pressure checks, public education, install smoke detectors, or choose to become part of the vaccination program.”

The programs at LRCC feature certificate and associate degrees in both fire protection and fire science. Positions in each field include code enforcement officers and fire inspectors within a department, firefighters and EMS responders.

Students in both programs learn about emergency services administration, basic and advanced firefighting, occupational health, fire behavior, and fire codes so they can become employed within fire or protection. The fire science program also has emergency medical services built in to prepare students for the medical aspect of the fire service.

“Modern emergency medical services has the ability to bring the emergency department to the patient, whether it's a house or whether it's an accident scene, or otherwise," Mercuri said. "That initial care can be critical and may shorten an emergency room or a hospital stay or reduce the long-term effects of an injury. This is why we need to talk about fire science programs and emergency medical services together.”

Mercuri's background and family history provide him with experiences that can be applied in his new role. Mercuri has a healthcare background and family story that ties into fire safety. Many of his family members worked in healthcare, including his grandmother, who was a nurse at Boston City Hospital. She was working during the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire that killed 492 people, the second deadliest single-building fire in America’s history. The event at the club, significantly over occupancy levels, led to new fire safety laws. Mercuri earned a nursing degree at Boston College in 1993.

Upon graduation, he worked as an EMT in Boston. In 1994, he and his family moved to the Lakes Region, where he served as a firefighter/paramedic and lieutenant/paramedic with the Gilford Fire Rescue Department until 2013. During this time, he became manager of emergency medical services and emergency preparedness at Lakes Region General Hospital and earned a master’s degree in health administration at New England College. In 2013, he started working for the New Hampshire Fire Academy and assumed leadership roles until his retirement.