I grew up in Darien. They are also served by volunteer fire departments. The men who put out the fires are entirely unpaid, but the departments are rumored to have tens of millions of dollars in assets. They do throw great parties, and have very fancy firehouses and the latest equipment.
As for the EMT kids, they are very capable. There is a lot of push by the parents for them to grow up and make something of themselves. Even when I grew up in the 60s and 70s, the high school was very competitive and they pushed demanding academics. We had a number of 800/800 SAT scores, and a lot of the best students got 4 or 5 on multiple AP exams. We did also drink a lot of beer and destroy a lot of valuable vehicles, typical of the rich-kid type of town. Most survived, and became affluent professionals of some sort.
So you’ve got a bunch of executives earning six-figure salaries volunteering as firefighters? I bet Darien may be the only place in American where that happens.
Wife and I lived in Darien for about 8 years way back in the 1960’s. Great little town.