Volunteer Fire Departments During 1736,

Volunteer Fire Departments

During 1736, Benjamin Franklin initiated the first American volunteer fire brigade in Philadelphia. In contemporary times, 270 years later, according to Jack W. Snook, et al. (2006) in Recruiting, Training, and Maintaining Volunteer Fire Fighter, economics constitute the primary reason for volunteer firefighters. Due to restricted financial resources, cities and fire districts routinely utilize volunteers and volunteer fire departments to help maintain and/or increase their service levels.

Nevertheless, volunteer firefighters and fire departments "must also meet exactly the same continuing education standards as their paid counterparts. They need to act just as quick[ly] and efficiently during an emergency" (Snook, et al., 2006, p. 6). They also, as the Chinese proverb introducing this paper indicates, must be able to extinguish nearby out of control fires.

Volunteer," however, does not denote "free."

This paper, which explores the value of volunteer fire departments, addresses the question: Why are volunteer fire departments important? As this paper answers this question, it also contends that volunteer fire departments prove not only valuable, but vital to communities.

In U.S. communities, a fire department responds to a fire approximately every 20.0 seconds. To suppress and/or arrest out of control fires, the U.S. Fire Administration (Fire departments, 2008) reports "87% of fire departments are volunteer or mostly volunteer and protect 38% of the population" (Fire departments, 2008). The estimated number of fire departments in the U.S. during 2007 totaled approximately 30,185 (Fire departments). Figure 1 portrays the percentages of volunteer and/or primarily volunteer fire departments compared to career fire departments in 2007.

Figure 1: Comparison of Fire Department Types (adapted from Fire departments, 2008)

Figure 2 portrays a comparison of volunteer and/or primarily volunteer fire departments compared to career fire departments in 2007 (numerical format).

Figure 2: Numerical Comparison Fire Department Types (adapted from Fire departments, 2008)

Relating to fire department's members, Eleanor Brown (1999) defines "volunteer," in "The scope of volunteer activity and public service." In the past, scholars strived to precisely use of the word volunteer. Basically, Brown, notes, volunteering consists of uncompelled purposeful activity, in which the volunteer does not capture the productive value. One particular definition portrays a volunteer as:

an individual engaging in behavior that is not bio-socially determined (e.g., eating, sleeping), nor economically necessitated (e.g., paid work, housework, home repair), nor sociopolitically compelled (e.g., paying one's taxes, clothing oneself before appearing in public), but rather that is essentially (primarily) motivated by the expectation of psychic benefits of some kind as a result of activities that have a market value greater than any remuneration received for such activities. (Brown, 1999, p. 17)

Service for the Community

Franklin Gould (2003), a former third grade teacher in New Hampshire stresses the value of volunteers to his class. He regularly asks new students: "How are the lending library and the volunteer fire department DIFFERENT from Ben Franklin's other inventions?" The correct answer is "They provide a service for the community" (Gould, 2003, p. 507). Figure 3 depicts a member of a volunteer fire department during Ben Franklin's time.

Figure 3: Volunteer Firefighter in Ben Franklin's Time (Snook, et al., 2006, p. 6).

In America's early history, an out of control fire presented one common, yet particularly tragic hazard individuals living in colonial times countered. Edwin S. Gaustad (2004) points out in Benjamin Franklin: Inventing America: "Homes and public buildings burned, and neighbors' attempts to put out these proved too little and too late."

Today, members of volunteer fire departments, Snook, et al. (2006) note, regularly suppress and/or arrest out of control fires.

Considerations

Volunteer Characteristics Volunteer fire departments expect their members to jump get out of bed at any time during the night. Sometimes, volunteer firefighters remain in blistering heat, other times in the cold or in freezing rain for extended periods of time. In addition to asking firefighters to risk their lives, fire departments regularly perform numerous positive actions in/for their communities, Scott Harkins, and Frank B. McCluskey (2002) point out in Burning for success: How volunteer fire departments motivate teams, coach leaders and deliver killer customer service without spending a dime. Frequently, however, firefighters work unnoticed (Harkins & McCluskey, p. 35).

James Sherk (2007) points out in "Heat on volunteer firefighters," that approximately 26,000 volunteer fire departments in the U.S. stay prepared to fight fires for tens of millions of Americans and their homes. "Almost 3 in 4 firefighters in the United States are volunteers, and smaller towns and cities call on them for protection. A town with 3,000 residents simply cannot afford the expense of hiring full-time career firefighters" ("Heat on Volunteer Firefighters," 2007, p. A15). In case of an out of control fire, smaller towns and communities traditionally rely on volunteer firefighters.

Volunteer Fire Departments' Tasks in case of out of control fire, both paid and volunteer fire departments perform basically identical tasks (Snook, et al., 2006). Services volunteer fire departments provide include, but are not limited to the following:

Fire suppression

Emergency medical services

First responder - non-transport

Basic life support - with transport capability

Advance life support - with transport capability

Hazardous materials response

Operations level

Technician level

Specialized rescue

Auto extrication

Confined space rescue

Trench rescue

Water rescue

High angle rescue

5. Public information and education a. Fire prevention programs for adults and children b. Public presentations for a variety of community organizations

6. Inspection services

7. Fund raising activities a. Annual events (dinner, firefighter's ball) b. Special events (raffles, garage sales) c. Weekly activities (bingo) d. Fund drives. (Snook, et al., 2006, pp. 7-8)

Ways Volunteer Fire Department Operate Franklin Clay (1998), professor of fire science technology, explains a number of in "Managers and the volunteer fire service: sharing common ground" Some volunteer fire departments, deemed as independent nonprofit organizations, operate separately from, or on the edge of the local government unit. Others, part of a wider range of government delivery responsibility, constitute part of a consolidated or regional approach, and at times extend as high as the county level. Volunteer systems sometimes offer supplementary support for the career-oriented fire protection services. Sometimes a volunteer system may serve as an arm of the community or city government, similar to the local law enforcement service. Sometimes, the organization consists of a unique combination of organizational components. Along with numerous organizational formats, however, the volunteer fire service shares several common threads running through them. "Most volunteer fire departments have volunteer fire chiefs" (Clay, 1998). To motivate fire service volunteers, volunteer fire departments' chiefs, along with the community the departments serve, must provide a positive benefit, tangible or intangible rewards, and/or some sort a balance of some sort to equal the effort the individuals exert to qualify as member of a volunteer fire department. Despite training, effort and time commitment, Clay asserts, at times, serious emergency incidents occur that do not produce the volunteer fire department's desired positive outcome. This, however, happens to fire departments universally, whether they are volunteer or career.

Conclusions

Just as individuals who serve their communities through volunteer fire departments receive positive benefits in return, the communities volunteer fire departments serve gain valuable, vital tangible and intangible profits, as noted in the Volunteer Fire Departments' Tasks section of this paper. Today, as in the past, an out of control fire continues to constitute one common, significant tragic hazard individuals counter. Volunteer fire departments, the researcher contends, prove to serve as a vital part of society as, most of the time, they suppress and/or arrest out of control fires - just in time.