Not All Volunteer Firefighters Go Home! Honor and Duty to Their Communities

Firefighters are the ideal volunteer and warriors in the new world where climate change and our internal resources are stressed.  They work, take care of their families, and if need be drop everything to help their community. These guys and gals go out there and are not paid. Many are staying in good physical condition, practicing, and learning everyday. They do it because they know someone must do it. While some feel that such volunteers are not necessary, and/or do not contribute to the resource capacity of the area, I would beg to differ. 

Let us look at some statistics from an NFPA Report (NFPA, para 1)

-NFPA estimates there were an estimated 1,041,200 career and volunteer firefighters in the United States in 2020. Of the total number of firefighters 364,300 (35%) were career firefighters and 676,900 (65%) were volunteer firefighters.

-In 2020, 89,600 firefighters were female (9%). Of the career firefighters, 17,200 were female. There were also 72,400 volunteer firefighters who were female.

-Fifty percent of firefighters are between 30 and 49 years old.

-There were 29,452 fire departments in the United States in 2020. Of these, 18% were all career or mostly career departments and protected 70% of the US population.

-Nationwide 37% of fire departments provided no emergency medical services, 46% provided basic life support (BLS), and 17% provided advanced life support (ALS)

Before one discounts the value of volunteer firefighters let us consider the concept of altruism and how that is likely high in the volunteer firefighter populate (see below). They are out there training and responding to calls while many of the rest of us are on the couch watching tv. They are just a different breed of people who know their activities do make a difference. Heroes in the old style!

Volunteer firefighting is central to the safety and responder capacity of the surrounding communities and because they are actively practicing every week it makes them one of the more up-to-date local departments. (That reminds me that I should keep learning while I'm traveling and help get resources because they are wisely used here.). Please consider sharing your corporate and personal resources with people who are out there doing the right thing!  HERE. (We are in need of a grass truck and share our training and other resources with the other limited resource departments in the area. For those of us who are 'desk jockeys'. If you can't be there to help, then help them in other ways. Its a community thing. oh! and tax deductible! 💁)

Remember, these men and women are out there risking their lives. Not everyone does go home! If you are up for a meaningful challenge in your life there are a number of local fire departments that would likely want to talk to you. I know one does for sure! Make a difference!

Consider a study in 2022  Lived Experiences of Regular Volunteer Emergency First Responders: A Phenomenological Research

First responders, volunteer firefighters, EMT, etc....seem to share some characteristics: 

(a) desire to help transcends volunteers’ age, civil status, years of service, and educational attainment; (b) helping others is a rewarding experience;
(c) constant retraining and camaraderie among peers can easily surmount financial difficulties and lack of equipment; and,
(d) willingness on the part of volunteer-responders to face injury or death in the process of helping others.

(On a scale of 1-10 the salary sucks but the ability to give back is an awesome benefit. They do it for free! FYI...there isn't enough resources out there when volunteer firefighters do go down and their families need help. I think our priorities are confused.) 

Feel free to share its a small act that sometimes makes a difference!