This Proud Tradition that we call the job was founded by VOLUNTEERS.We are the back bone of the fire services,cities cant and most times wont respond to the rural areas that we work,the rural areas cant afford to keep paid folks sitting around waiting so here we are.Ready to go at a drop of a tone day or night and we do it because we care enough for our fellows to be there in their darkest hours.I've said before you cant choose this for a job,it chooses you.It comes from the heart and soul,anyone can learn the steps but walking the steps is a totally different thing.Its not about getting any kind of rewards its simply to help your fellow humanbeing.A very well known person once said that NOTHING BEATS AS STRONG AS THE HEART OF A VOLUNTEER.Be proud of who you are and what you do,do it in as professional manner as possible and always as safe as possible,you may not even like some of the people you work with but when the tones drop that stuff is left behind at the bootbag,there is no room for attitudes or egos on the job.With that said remember everday is training day so EVERYONE GOES HOME. Godbless and Godspeed
I agree totally and if people look on all of our fire trucks trhey will see our famous quote " Pride is our pay" That quote is so true cause on our website www.hudsonfire.com we have another quote saying " A paycheck doesn't make a professional commitment to service does". In other words you have to want to do this job even if it's doing it for nothing. Our satisfaction is knowing thaqt we helped save a life or we saved a house from burning from the ground or whatever it may be. To all the volunteers be safe and GOD BLESS YOU GUYS.
i agree with this 110%. alot of people may say that its stupid for us to do what we do for free, but i say if i wanted to do this for a paycheck i would be on a paid dept. i volunteer to try to protect my fellowneighbors in my community. how many people do you know that will do what we do. i don't know of many. hopefully my kids will follow in my footsteps and the same of others in my dept.'s kids to keep the tradition going. thanks for letting me reply..... stay safe ...
What we do is a God given gift.He expects us to use it to help other people.That's why He gave it to us.If He wanted us to get paid for it He would have given us a paid job instead of the volunteer gift.Let's not forget who we REALLY work for...God Almighty.God Bless and stay safe.
Amen to all!! I have been a volunteer for almost 17 years now, and have always been tremendously proud to be one. I am a first generation firefighter, at least as far as I know, and my family is proud of what I do. I think their pride would be diminished if I were to go paid, I know mine would. The paid guys have a certain air as they ride about in shiny new rigs, but they will never know the true joy and satisfaction of doing what we do, helping simply because we are needed.
i just want to say i worked for a paid dept, now i'm volunteer. i would much rather work with volunteers then paid personel any day. i have seen the differance and for most (not all) paid people are there because its there job. its just a job to them. for the volunteers its a passion. i know it is for me.
WOW!!
Im a volunteer Fire Fighther for 3 years now.. so not very long.. but I never know what happened when I'd taken the first step in becomming a Fire Fighter..., it (the job-my destiny?) just came to me!!
Im proud of beeing a volunteer Fire Fighter, and hope I can do this for long long time!!
Bravo! Well said! I really do wish others saw it like we do. I get so tired of people asking me if I am Paid or Volunteer, and when I tell them I am a Volunteer I get that "Well thats ok too I guess" look from them. I see absolutely no shame in what we do. I also doubt they would care if it was a Volunteer of a full timer that was pulling their butts out of a burning building.
Great post. I agree 100%. We do this because we love it. I live in an unincorporated area where there is not a single paid dept. in 50 miles so we are the first and only line of defense. Home from a call at 2:00am and up for work at 5:00am whit no complaints. Its the life we choose to live and we do it with PRIDE.
You are right we are the backbone of the volunteers.We were never respected as a fire department everybody though we were just a bunch of guys wanting to play firemen.Until a year ago when our refinery blew up we put out 5 tank batteries and kept the cat cracker from blowing up and leveling everything around us for a radius of 16 miles.The people that were running the refinery thought it would take us three days to put it all out we had it all out in 9hrs with no injuries or any deaths.Congressman and the govoner came to our town to thank us for a job well done.That was a neat experience that i will never forget.Since then we have gotten respect from everyone and we are no longer considered guys just playing fireman.The county now put money in account for us each month to say thank you.I just hate that it almost took a disaster for people to understand what volunteers actually do for there communities.Thought i would share that with everybody