Always There When We Call

Why in the world would anyone want to be a volunteer firefighter?

Last week was a perfect case in point. Our local volunteers, no doubt, woke up last Thursday morning looking forward to important plans for their day. Some were prepared to go to work and earn their living at their trade. Others were preparing for the holiday weekend. Maybe they were anticipating time spent with their families. But whatever it was that they had planned, all these things were cut short by a mid-morning urgent dispatch call to respond to a “vehicle fire” at Warm Springs.

Having responded often to vehicle fires, the volunteers undoubtedly felt only a slight inconvenience initially. Their plans would only be disrupted by an hour or so at most while they took care of this little hiccup. But as they got in their trucks, started rolling toward the scene and began to view the huge plumes of black smoke ahead of them, they must have come to that deflating realization that their whole day was about to be locked up in dirty and dangerous volunteer work? Whatever they were feeling, it is clear that all their other plans and priorities were being dropped immediately. They had their day’s work cut out for them right there.

These men and women spent 10-12 hours of hot, miserable volunteer service on Thursday, fighting this wildfire alongside colleagues from the Clark County Fire Department and the BLM who were pulling a healthy paycheck for the same labor. When the paid firefighters got spelled out for break times mandated by their contracts, the local volunteers just kept on going. No one rotated them in or out. They stayed with it all day and into the evening. And when they finally rolled back home, exhausted after the long day, what had they earned for their labors?

Then, scarcely more than a day later, they all showed up again on Saturday morning to give the community its traditional Independence Day water fight. Many of them also spent countless hours in preparing, executing and cleaning up after a fantastic fireworks display; a fitting finale to the community’s July 4th Celebration. And what did they earn for being away from their families for the better part of the holiday celebration?

Finally, to add insult to injury, the local volunteers spent the evening hours on Sunday night, running from one point to another responding to brush fires apparently caused by amateur fireworks displays. They ran to the Paiute Plaza, then out to Stewarts Point, then to Moapa; often finding that, by the time they arrived, the fire had already been extinguished. But, all the same, they came when called. Clearly, a fitting conclusion to their holiday weekend.

So, we must ask again: why in the world would anyone want to be a volunteer firefighter? We honestly don’t know. But thank heavens that they do! Their selfless service deserves a deep and heartfelt expression of appreciation from this entire community, especially after serving a week like that.

Thank you, volunteers from station 72, 73 and 74! Thanks for being there for us when we call!