Makeup of Your Local Fire Department
Across the U.S., nearly 70% of firefighters are volunteers, yet they respond to nearly half of all emergency calls nationwide. Departments like ours rely heavily on volunteers to help keep our communities safe.
Volunteer firefighters carry pagers that alert them the moment someone needs help. What makes the role both exciting and challenging is that a call can come at any time—during dinner with family, a birthday party, Thanksgiving, or even in the middle of a car wash. When we’re able, we drop what we’re doing and head straight to the station.
The video below is a glimpse of what it usually looks like from the moment the pager goes off to the truck rolling out the door on our way to the fire.