A dying breed

I can remember the earlier years, being a young fireman coming up in the department, it had to be the coolest thing I had ever done in my life. You could hardly keep me out of the fire station! I ran every call that I could whether it was in my district or not. I wanted to gain as much experience, skill, and knowledge as possible. Late at night, I would be at the station playing on the computer, watching TV, and waiting on a call to come in. Some nights, we may not have a single call, and then some nights we may only get a few hours sleep. Those were the days. 

In the last five years, I've noticed that the commitment and the drive to participate has decreased substantially. Everyone seems to have better things to do all the time. Not only that, it's getting harder and harder to recruit new members of the younger ages because of the nonexistent financial aspect of the fire department. These kids don't really want any part of being a volunteer firefighter because it doesn't pay any dividends. I really only wanted to do it because it looked cool. As it turns out, I'm not so bad at it. The fact of the matter is that a volunteer department cannot function without volunteers. The community won't be protected as adequately which could force leaders to hire in more full-time firefighters. When this happens, the money for the salary has to come from somewhere, which leads to an increase in taxes. 

No one really stops and thinks about the benefits that the volunteer fire department brings to the communities. Volunteer fire departments save taxpayers thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars each year because most of the work is being done for free. I can tell you that, in my own department, we only have nine individuals on payroll. These nine individuals are county supplied firefighters that occupy the fire stations 24 hour the day. The Fire Chief, the battalion chiefs, captains, lieutenants, and regular firefighters all do not receive a single dime for the work that they perform. Yes, even the Fire Chief is a volunteer. 

If you look back in the history books, you will find that the fire service was founded with volunteers. Every single fire department in the world has started out, at some point, using volunteers to protect the cities and rural areas. Even the great city of New York fire department started out years and years ago with volunteers doing the work. As these cities have grown bigger, the demand for constant fire suppression personnel have increased, thus eliminating volunteers. I hear stories, every so often, about the local cities in my area having volunteer firefighters as late as the early to mid-90s. If you stop and think about it, that's not so long ago.  

Your community needs you. There is something for everyone to do in the volunteer fire department. We don't require experience, we can train anyone just about anything to benefit the department in the community. Not everyone has to fight fire. Truck drivers, creative minds, advertising specialists, and everyone that has a few hours in their week to be able to help their community are gladly appreciated. Don't let your community fall victim to a much bigger disaster because you didn't think that you could help out. We have the tools, we have the training, we just need you!