This is a chance for volunteers with a burning ambition.
The Emporia Fire Department needs volunteer firefighters. Six of them. Successful applicants can expect to see a lot of training, a lot of grass fires, and a definite sense of having helped their community.
“The volunteers are very important to us,” Fire Chief Jack Taylor said. “They’re a huge asset.”
“The more people we can get to a scene, the better off we’re going to be,” agreed Captain Bill West. “That means there’s less work for all our people to do.”
When fully staffed, there are about 10 volunteer firefighters on hand. The least experienced start out mainly on grass fires. Not only are those blazes a little more straightforward than house fires, they also last a while. By contrast, most vehicle and trash-can fires are over before a volunteer can get to the scene.
Those volunteers that stay on get two training courses, appropriately named “Firefighter 1” and “Firefighter 2.” By the end of both courses, a volunteer can help out with house fires and help take some defensive measures against hazardous materials, such as evacuations.
And for someone who likes working with the fire department, volunteer work can be a foot in the door. Most of the full-time firefighters, Taylor said, come from the department’s pool of part-timers. But it has been known happened that a volunteer has gotten on as a part-timer and then made the jump to full-time status. Taylor said the department now has at least eight firefighters who used to be volunteers: Eric Gilger, Brandon Beck, Ryan Conley, Jeff Stephens, Ron Ewing, Bill Harmon, Ryan Schmidt and Eron Steinlage.
But attracting volunteers isn’t easy, for Emporia or anyone else.
“Nationwide, and we’re no exception, it’s getting more and more difficult to attract and retain people who are willing to put in the time to become a volunteer,” Taylor said. “With the economy, employers are having a hard time justifying people going off of full-time jobs to fight fires. The other thing is the time commitment. ... These people tend to regard their personal time as precious, just like the rest of us do.”
Those interested in volunteering can put in an application at the city human resources department in the Civic Auditorium. Potential volunteers will be given a physical agility test on March 31. The physical requirements include the ability raise and lower ladders, pull hose lines, go up and down stairs, and drag a mannequin from one point to another.