Firefighter German exchange student brings firefighting host family together

• By Sarah Nicell/LNP | LancasterOnline

No one thought it would take a foreign exchange student to bring Jared Nolt back to firefighting. That’s the joke at Garden Spot Fire Rescue in New Holland, where Jared serves as one of 80 volunteers. They cover 30 square miles of suburbs and sprawling farmland. They handle mostly fire alarm calls.

A few years ago, after more than a decade of firefighting, Jared’s volunteer time dwindled. Life got in the way.

Jared made overnight trips from Maine to Maryland to Canada working trailer sales until 2023. Now, he sells fire trucks. He spends time with his wife, Tabatha, and stepson, Collin. He has chihuahuas, chiweenies, a Vizsla. Two children of his own. A life.

But Tabatha, an emergency department nurse at WellSpan who also volunteers with Fivepointville Ambulance, wanted him to go back.

“I felt like he needed something to push him to get more involved again,” she said.

The push: a German boy named Linus Weber.

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‘Do what needs to be done’

On a breezy April morning in the high school parking lot, Linus held the head of an unconscious student who, moments ago, was splayed over a totaled car windshield.

There were other victims, too, in an overturned SUV. They stumbled with the help of first responders, red streaks across their shirts. A parent ran toward the scene, screaming for their daughter. A helicopter landed in a nearby field, ready to transport the injured to the nearest hospital.

Fortunately, the teens were actors. With prom next week, someone had to remind the students not to drink and drive.

Linus, a senior foreign exchange student and Garden Spot volunteer firefighter, was nonchalant about it all, even though they don’t do mock car accidents at German schools. All his classmates watched him save fake lives behind a line of cones.

“You just do what needs to be done,” Linus said, sweeping up some of the mess. He had the rest of the day off from school. Maybe he would take a nap.

But he would probably just spend the day at Garden Spot Fire Rescue.

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Starting young

Back in Germany, Linus started at his local fire station when he was only 6 years old.

Linus, 17, grew up in Sieboldshausen. It’s a third-of-a-square-mile village with less than a thousand people, a dot in the center of Germany. He lives with his parents, grandparents and two brothers. He likes to eat Oreos and work out. He enjoys his beauty sleep.

In first grade, Linus started learning fire prevention skills and how to call crisis services. He and his twin joined the fire program after their brother, four years older, did the same.

“If you’re young, you always do what your big brother does,” Linus said.

His childhood interests didn’t fizzle out. Once he turned 16, he completed his basic fire rescue training so he could respond to calls. He volunteered at the station two evenings a week.

Then, he decided to go abroad.

His mother, who lived on a tiny Nebraska farm as an exchange student in 1991, encouraged her children to apply. In December 2023, Linus listened.

It was a lot of paperwork. He wrote letters about who he is, what he likes to do. He interviewed with a German foreign exchange organization, prepared his medical records and applied for his visa. Months of effort.

A week before his flight, Linus still didn’t know what state the plane would take him to.

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Finding a home

In August, down to the wire, Shannon Portales reached out to fire departments with an odd request.

Portales plays matchmaker for SHARE, a national foreign exchange sponsorship program. She pairs teens across the world — from Italy, Spain, Bolivia, Hong Kong — with host families in Lancaster County.

High school students send her letters about their hobbies, their lifestyle habits. They tell Portales whether they like to cook or tolerate dogs. Most teens want to play American football.

“Linus was easy,” Portales said.

He wanted to live with firefighters.

When her email circulated around Garden Spot, Jared sent a sarcastic text to his wife. Maybe they should consider hosting.

The Nolts hosted one exchange student before, and the arrangement lasted only three weeks before it fell apart. They said they would never host again.

But this time, Tabatha decided to give it a chance.

She grew up in fire service: a junior firefighter at 13, running the ambulance at 16. The couple met through the fire station. Collin Burkholder, her son and an intensive care unit nurse at WellSpan Ephrata Emergency Department, always wanted a brother.

Plus, Tabatha felt her family growing apart. For the last five years, family dinners and vacations dwindled. Nursing school had kept her busy. This, maybe, could fix it.

Tabatha contacted Portales and read Linus’ personal letter. SHARE inspected their home. She had Collin, 21, reach out to Linus on social media. She prepared his bedroom.

“It was like waiting for a child to be born,” Tabatha said. “It was like that excitement.”

Garden Spot Fire Rescue expedited Linus’ membership to help him hit the ground running. Volunteers prepared his gear, orange stripes to match the other “probies,” the nickname for probationary firefighters. Fire Chief Darryl Keiser appointed Captain Brian Zimmerman to mentor him. Linus calls him BZ now.

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From Germany to Lancaster County

The night before the first day of classes at Garden Spot High School, Linus landed at Harrisburg International Airport.

Linus didn’t spend his first day in America at school, though.

He ate breakfast at Rachel’s Cafe & Creperie. He toured Lancaster Township Fire Company, Tabatha’s childhood fire station. He went to a car show in Lititz. He hung out at Garden Spot Fire Rescue until midnight, meeting the other volunteers and trying on his new gear.

Less than a week later, Linus took his first fire call.

“He jumped into the deep end of the pool with both feet,” Keiser said.

Since landing, he has quickly worked through his “rookie book” — a list of tasks for underage and new firefighters — with the other probies. Zimmerman, his mentor, has helped oversee his progress as he learns about medical response, garbage and building fires, work on the fire engine and emergencies in confined spaces.

While he initially wanted to join a high school sport, the fire rescue quickly became its own extracurricular activity.

Linus attends three-hour drills every Tuesday. He assists with fundraisers and calls throughout the week, all while keeping good grades and a social life, according to his school counselor, Ellen Cantymagli.

“He is really what we love to see and have and host here at Garden Spot. … He seemed to seamlessly come in and make friends. Teachers really enjoy him in class here,” she said.

Outside of firefighting, the Nolts have made sure Linus gets the true American experience. And wherever they go, the Nolts stop to visit every fire department they see along the way.

He explored black sand beaches and the Dole Plantation in Hawaii. He strolled through Raiders memorabilia in Las Vegas. He took pictures outside the White House. He took part in the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Penn Medicine Park, formerly Clipper Magazine Stadium. He discovered Mega Stuf Oreos, which he doesn’t have in Germany.

Tabatha plans to package them away in his suitcase when he leaves. She will bring them when the Nolts visit him abroad.

Linus doesn’t go home until June 20, after he helps run the fire rescue’s fifth annual Cadet Camp. He will teach children about the station and fire safety, just as his local rescue in Germany did for him years ago.

When he goes back, Linus still has some classes left to complete before graduating high school. He hopes to become a career firefighter someday.

In the meantime, the Nolts will keep hosting family dinners, traveling. Jared will keep driving to the fire station, racing Linus to the engine. Collin will keep bickering with Linus about which of them is the bigger hero, knocking the hat off his head.

“I just did my thing. My mom did her thing. My stepdad did his thing,” Collin said. “But Linus has seemed to bring all of us together.”