They leave the supper table without ever taking a bite. They quietly run for the exit at their child’s school play. They rouse themselves from warm beds to venture out into the cold, dark winter night. They leave their jobs, their farms and their loved ones behind to don fifty or more pounds of gear to run toward danger.

These men and women are a special breed. They are volunteer firefighters.

If you live in a city or a wealthy community, you probably take for granted that when you call 911 there will be someone waiting at a firehouse to answer your cries for help. A car crash. A grease fire. A carbon monoxide alarm. A smoke-filled home in the middle of the night. These are some of the many reasons we all depend on firefighters to help. 

But in small communities and especially small, rural communities, the people waiting for your call aren’t paid to wait at the firehouse. They are volunteers who go about their lives and work, not unlike Clark Kent just before he transforms into Superman.

Here they come to save the day. Only, they’re doing it for love of community, neighbor and stranger rather than vocation. 

This has been on my mind a lot lately. Southern Ohio is experiencing a horrendous drought. Burn bans throughout the area are meant to protect us all. A carelessly tossed cigarette or someone roasting a hot dog outside could result in hours spent fighting a brush fire. Yet, people  ignore the ban. They burn their trash, their brush and anything else they darn well please with no regard for the risk to human life, animals or property. 

Our volunteer fire departments have worked tirelessly this summer and this week has been the worst so far. After a full day out fighting brush fires, multiple local departments responded to a fire caused by a blown transformer at a power generating plant last night.

I am in awe of every single person who answers when the rest of us are in need. 

As regular readers here know, I just came back from Philadelphia where fire departments are a big deal. This is where Benjamin Franklin formed the first ever fire brigade. At his museum you’ll see a bucket once used by a volunteer firefighter. They would line up and draw water from a neighbor’s well, passing one bucket at a time to fill up the fire engine.

We’ve come a long way since then. In Philly today, you’ll see a heavy presence of neighborhood fire stations and some gorgeous murals celebrating their rich firefighting history. Advances in technology make firefighting easier than these humble beginnings and safer too. 

Yet, there is an inherent risk these brave folks face every time they head into a burning building or toward some kind of hazmat disaster.

Plus, the time commitments, the danger, the overall risk of the endeavor and the constant need to raise money for the department to survive have left many volunteer departments in desperate need of help. Many firefighters are aging out and hanging up their gear for the last time and young people aren’t stepping up to join in the same numbers they once did. 

After all, who wants to leave their family mid bite because someone else caught their Thanksgiving turkey on fire? Who wants to leave their air conditioned home to battle a brush fire in sweltering temperatures? Who wants to leave their tractor in the field or a customer at their place of work to do traffic control at a car accident? 

Thankfully, there are still people willing to do this. And they’re willing to do it without demanding to know what’s in it for them. What’s in it for them, by the way, is knowing they helped another and that someone else will be there if they ever find themselves on the other side of the emergency. 

My community would be in trouble without them and I am grateful every single day for these brave souls who want to help. Mr Roger’s taught us all to look for the helpers in times of trouble. If you need a helper, look no further than your volunteer fire department. If you don’t need help, go find them anyway and thank them for all they do.

Ps: All first responders, both the paid and the volunteer, are pretty amazing. Let’s be grateful to them all!