The Volunteers

You get a different perspective on firefighting if you ever visit an all volunteer fire department. Watching Vermilion Township's fire department come together on a cold Sunday morning, just to unroll miles of hose and pressure test them makes you forget that they are doing it all for free.  When most of us might be heading off to church, or getting ready for the Sunday NASCAR race, this group of men and women were in a nearly empty parking lot pressure testing their hoses for annual certification.

Some career firefighters look at volunteer firemen as weekend warriors, perhaps stealing a paying job from a career firefighter.  Some career firemen even look at volunteers as reckless because some don't see a lot of action and they can be dangerous on the fire ground because of that lack of action.

It's hard to agree with those statements. Sure most volunteer firemen don't see a lot of action, and some can be in it to get their name in the paper, but most of them do it because they want to legitimately help, or they are young guys learning the job while they work to put themselves in medic school and the fire academy so they can get a career job.

In the end 70% of all firefighters in this country are volunteers. Whether they are getting paid or volunteering means little to a resident who's house may be on fire. They just want the fire department to show up and put it out and these volunteers are making sure their hoses hold up when they do get that call.

*special thanks to my cousin Scott Schindler for inviting me and my daughter Audrey out. Wish the weather was better, but hell, we have a great time**