Corsi enters rarefied air among EVTs

If one were to scan North America for every person who holds each of the 22 emergency vehicle technician certifications, they would find a grand total of three people.

One of them resides in Cranston, and he’s been going strong for more than 30 years at the Cranston Fire Department.

Robert Corsi, the Firehouse Magazine Emergency Vehicle Technician of the Year, was notified last month that he passed the driver operator’s test, which he took in June. That was the final checkmark he needed to become the third person on the continent with every EVT certification.

“I feel great,” Corsi said about the honor. “It’s good to be recognized for something that took me 30 years to accomplish. I don’t know what to say.”

Corsi said that he has earned more than 40 total certifications throughout his career, adding in 24 automotive service excellence (ASE) certifications that he owns.

To say he has the answers to the test at this point after three decades of experience would be an understatement, considering he even gets to write one of them.

“There’s all kinds, ladder test, there’s a whole line of rescue tests,” Corsi said, noting that he has attended EVT Validation Conferences for a decade now. “I write one of the tests. I do [the] heating and air conditioning test for ambulances. There’s an EVT commission and once a year we meet and that’s where we develop the tests.”

When he’s not adding to his list of skills, he’s putting his byline on the Firehouse website. His story, “Apparatus Supplement: Refurbishing an Aging Fleet,” was published on June 1.

Corsi goes into intricate detail explaining what to look for before refurbishing a fire truck, what to avoid and how to find the proper parts to complete the project.

Once he sat down to write his article, the words just flowed. It was like second nature.

“It’s easy if I’m sitting in front of a computer,” Corsi said. “These are all things I know like the back of my hand, it’s just a process of just writing it down and putting everything together.”

Refurbishing older trucks has been Corsi’s passion and product for as long as he’s been in the maintenance business. Though he hasn’t taken on the task of completely restoring a truck, he has saved countless ones by fixing corroded parts.

Corsi also helped keep a ladder truck from 1976 in tact until this past year, when the department decided to finally move on from it.

“For instance we had a truck that the chassis was rotted out, it was beyond repair,” Corsi said. “I took the whole under-chassis out of that truck, repaired the chassis and then reinstalled the under-chassis of the truck. That saved the truck and that truck is still running down the road. There’s a lot of trucks that we’ve done extensive work to.”

For Corsi, it’s about maximizing what the department has. He does his best to keep the trucks modern and up-to-date.

“All cities and towns have tight budgets today, and so you’ve got to kind of work with what you’ve got,” Corsi said. “If you’re not getting the most out of your money, you’re going to be in trouble. I love doing this. It’s a good feeling when you can save the city some money, and also have it so that the firefighters have a better product to drive down the road.”

Making the most of what he’s got was an adage his father, Robert Corsi, has always told him. He also made sure to credit his mentor, Al Moretti, from his early days at the department.

“He was quite a firefighter and a mechanic,” Corsi said of Moretti. “He showed me the ropes and then he passed away a few years after that. I tried to follow in his footsteps.”

As far as the future goes, Corsi said he could see himself potentially teaching courses, such as a preparation seminar for the EVT exam. He has four years remaining until retirement, and he doesn’t plan on leaving his station in Cranston, which he described as “one big family.”

“I can’t think of a better place to be,” Corsi said. “I work with fantastic people. I think it’s the best fire department in the country. We happen to have a phenomenal mayor and chief. [Chief McKenna], he’s behind us, the whole maintenance department, to better the conditions of the trucks. Everything’s about the trucks. The firefights have to have safe trucks for the road and the civilians of the city.”

To Corsi, though, his rare place among EVTs is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s just another day at the office.

“To me, that’s just every day giving 110 percent,” Corsi said. “I don’t know if I’ve already processed it all the way right now. I don’t know, it’s just part of who I am. I like to be the top of whatever I’m doing.”