Volunteers are crucial to local fire dept.’s

Christmas Eve, the family is all-together for a late dinner followed by the traditional opening of gifts and fellowship. As the family sits down to say grace and eat, a loud electronic tone cuts the room, followed by a dispatcher saying, “Three hundred units, respond to Stepstone Road for a possible structure fire.” Everyone stops what they are doing and looks at the person with the mobile radio attached to their hip that is talking in codes.

With a shrug and a simple’ “sorry guys”, I got up from the table, leaving my family on a special holiday tradition we have held onto all my life, and headed out the door to help someone else. I did not know how long I would be, or how bad the fire would be burning, or if anyone would be injured during this call; but everyone at my parents’ house knew why I was leaving them and prayed for the people involved and the guys and gals responding to come home safe.

This past Christmas Eve started out busy.

A home in rural Bath County caught fire early in the morning and was quickly becoming an inferno. Volunteers from three fire departments answered the call, which took most all of the morning. During the call, part of the home collapsed on a firefighter and injured him slightly, but he recovered and continued on.

During the course of the day, Owingsville Fire Department would be called out to four other emergencies, including the possible structure fire on Stepstone that thankfully was nothing more than a wood stove putting off too much smoke. And we did it without pay, without a fanfare of glory and on a day where most people never leave the house.

Bath County has six fire departments spread out across jurisdictional boundaries of responsibility. Each department is staffed with a minimum of twelve certified firefighters and a chief, as mandated by state law. For the most part, each firefighter is strictly volunteering; responding to calls without the promise of pay. These men and women do this because they care for their communities, fighting fires, rescuing those in peril or cutting severely injured people from mangled cars just as vigilantly as those on a paid department in a big city. They are passionate in what they do and train hard to be able to successfully perform their duties regardless of the time, place or weather.

To be a volunteer firefighter in Kentucky, one must be at least 18 years old, and then acquire 150 hours of specific training within two years of joining a department. After the initial 150 hours are attained, a volunteer must maintain 20 hours per year to remain active. These training hours are done either at the department during regular meetings or at fire schools throughout the state. Most departments meet weekly at their home stations and keep their members up to date with department events and have training drills that last sometimes until 10 p.m. Certified firefighters can then choose to obtain higher levels of certification called IFSAC (International Fire Service Congress) which are comprised of two levels of written and skills testing.

Volunteers staff nearly half of Kentucky’s fire departments. Each department must maintain a 50 percent ratio of certified firefighters in order to receive state aid money from the Kentucky Fire Commission. The amount is $11,000 and can only be used to purchase specific equipment. Additional funding a department may need is usually from benefits or fundraisers throughout a year. Without those fundraisers or donations, many departments are left in a dire situation financially.

The fire departments in Bath County are governed by a Fire Taxing Board, which disperses funds garnished by local taxes for equipment, training and other specific areas to better assist communities. Owingsville Fire Department is a bit of an exception, as funds are allocated by both the City of Owingsville and, at a lesser degree, the Fire Taxing Board. The Mayor and City Council hire Owingsville’s Fire Chief and Assistant Chief, with the Chief and Treasurer, who is usually the Assistant Chief, receiving a monthly stipend. Rural fire department members receive a travel reimbursement at the end of the year for calls they have responded to, training attended and meetings. This reimbursement is to help offset rising gas costs, as several firefighters live a distance away from their fire stations.

Owingsville Fire Department alone responds to nearly 300 calls a year, from car accidents to structure fires. While there are over thirty volunteers on the department roster, each firefighter has a regular job or other responsibilities. That means when a call goes out, it isn’t uncommon to only have a handful of firefighters at the initial response. Each Bath County fire department has a mutual aid agreement, meaning each station backs up another in certain situations. That being said, each of those departments’ members also has jobs and responsibilities and may not be available at all times.

Family support has to be a key factor for a volunteer firefighter. An understanding of when that alert comes across that mobile radio, no matter where the firefighter is, they have to put down what they are doing and respond. Without the support at home, it is very difficult for a firefighter to do his or her duty. Like the Christmas Eve dinner, many other family moments have to be put on hold until the call is over and everyone is home safe. When the call is over, sometimes the outcome isn’t a very good one; firefighters see things no one should ever have to see. Family support during those times is crucial. All too often, we respond to calls and know exactly who is involved.

There has been a steady decline in volunteers over recent years as the younger generations have either moved where better jobs are or went onto college. Sometimes there is a lack of motivation for volunteering, and a sense people have of not wanting to do anything for free. It is not uncommon to have a volunteer fire department with members who have been there 30, 40 and sometimes 50 years. It is not a glamorous job. There is no real pay and sometimes people’s emotions under extreme distress are taken out on responders. The reason volunteer firefighters do what they do is because we love our communities and strive to protect the citizens within.

Communities rely on volunteer fire departments, and vice versa. Without the community support, most departments wouldn’t be able to function without a degree of difficulty. To volunteer to go into a burning house seems absurd to most everyone, but it’s something we firefighters do because we feel the need to protect our people.