Volunteer firefighters are 'human beings' (believe it or not), just like the rest of us. They come in both sexes, but mostly males. They also come in various sizes. The size would depend on if you are looking at one putting out a fire at your house or if he is driving a fire engine with a blaring siren for you to pull off the side of the road. However, firefighters are mostly average size.

Volunteer firefighters are found everywhere, on land, on the sea and in a fire engine and sometimes in your hair if you are in the way trying to sightsee at a fire scene or when he is asking for support at a fundraiser.

Volunteer Firefighters provide demonstrations, lectures, training, fire prevention school programs, CPR & First aid classes and public services. They are required to have the wisdom of God, the disposition of a kitten, the muscles of steel and are often accused of having a heart to match those muscles. Yet he is the one who swallows hard and sheds a tear if you lose a loved one to a fire or vehicle accident, then spends the rest of the day wondering why he volunteered into this organization anyway, since it is a dirty, lousy job.

A volunteer firefighter has a paying job just like other people. Then he spends hours training to be a better firefighter, cleaning and working on fire apparatus, cleaning and making repairs and improvements to the fire station, showing children around the fire station when they walk in from the street for a visit, delivering water as a public service and numerous hours fighting fires of all sorts. He normally volunteers around the clock, week days, Saturdays and Sundays and all holidays. However, it always kills him when some joker comes by the fire station and says, "You loafing around the fire station again?"

The volunteer firefighter is like a small child, whom when the child is good he is very, very good. But when the child is bad, the child is horrid. When the firefighter puts the fire out quickly and properly then "he is just doing his job." However, when he makes a mistake by knocking out a window that was not locked then "he is stupid, just like the rest of those Bozo firefighters, and doesn't know what he is doing."

Volunteer firefighters see misery, blood from injuries, deaths, arsons going unsolved and they see more sunrises and sunsets than the average person. Like the mailman, he is out in all kinds of weather. Why? To help preserve property and save lives.

Volunteer firefighters get medals or plaques for saving lives (once in a while it will be the widow or widower that gets the medal or plague). But the most rewarding moment for a volunteer firefighter comes when after a fire is out or when a small kindness has been shown. He may feel a warm hand clasp his and he looks into a face with grateful eyes and a grateful heart and hears, "Thank you and God bless you and your fire company."

Author :  Judy Younker - BSVFC (Berkeley Springs, WV)