Tyler Crabb is not your average student, nor is he your average firefighter.

Many students participate in the Wareham High School "School to Career" program, but Tyler has gone above and beyond the call of duty. He has already been hired by the Wareham Fire Department, after beginning as a student volunteer in the fall of 2012.

"He had to do three interviews before he was placed. It was not a done deal," School to Career adviser Sue Nobrega said of Crabb's placement at the station. "The fire station has the final say."

Crabb passed muster, and not long after he joined the department, his abilities were put to the test.

"My first day there was about a week before Hurricane Sandy," said Crabb.

Crabb jumped right into the work, and was part of the team of first-responders Wareham residents were counting on throughout the storm and its aftermath.

"He jumped right into the thick of things," said Wareham Fire Chief Robert McDuffy. "He worked a lot of hours and saw a lot in a short period of time."

Tyler didn't mind having a tough assignment for his first call.

"I was able to take pictures of scenes, show how quickly the tides rose, and throughout the night, I was allowed to be on the loudspeaker in the Swifts Beach and Pinehurst areas announcing the voluntary evacuation."

For his part, McDuffy doesn't regret sending the green Crabb to respond to the hurricane.

"It was all hands on deck and he handled himself very well," said McDuffy.

In addition to attending Wareham High School -- where he says he earned straight A's until this semester -- Crabb attends firefighter certification classes in Fall River three days a week. He is on track to become a fully-certified firefighter by the state in June.

For now, he is serving as a call firefighter, a position he earned pretty quickly.

"Tyler, he's an individual who walks around with a notebook taking notes," says McDuffy. "We haven't had anybody that rambunctious in a long time."

Crabb was hired the day that blizzard Nemo rolled into town.

"It was pretty cool to see the successions. My chief would at first refer to me as 'the school-to-work kid.' That's how I was introduced to everyone," Crabb says.

Soon after Hurricane Sandy, Crabb was added to the station's roster.

He "developed into being a good catch for us, and after seeing how he was conducting himself and his excitement for the business, he found himself [hired as] a brand new recruit," said McDuffy.

Crabb says he remembers the first time McDuffy introduced him to Onset Fire Chief Howard Andersen: "'This is our recruit firefighter, Tyler.' It was just nice to see that change," says Crabb.

Crabb plans to get his bachelor's degree in Fire Science from Anna Marie College in Paxton, and work as a volunteer firefighter for Paxton while he's studying. That kind of double-duty is nothing new to Tyler, Nobrega said.

"He'll be called out at like four o'clock in the morning, do it, and come to school," said Nobrega. And... "he's keeping his grades up."

Wareham High Vice-principal Debbie Freitas says that a number of students have had varying amounts of success in the School to Career program, but Crabb is exceptional.

"The philosophy behind the program, we're really looking at college and career readiness," said Freitas. "That's something that's probably even more important than it was 20 years ago, when the program first had its inception here, and I think Tyler really is a model of success."