Last night I couldn’t sleep and so I wandered downstairs to my PC to work on two internet based classes that I help teach to aspiring fire officers. The two classes are “Fire Administration Advanced” and “Managing Fire Department Personnel” respectively.
My job is to conduct weekly online discussions amongst the students on a weekly topic taken from the week’s reading assignment. At 1:00am I started my work, by approximately 3:00am I was getting ready to retire back to bed when the fire pager went off for a possible gas leak at a business. While the gas leak turned out to be unfounded, a good thing, it always impresses me that at 3:00am, 21 of our dedicated volunteer firefighters turned out in the wee morning hours to lend assistance to this situation.
Our system is not unique, in Minnesota and across the country about 75% of all firefighters are volunteers. These people serve cities ranging from almost 100,00 people (Bloomingotn, MN) to the very smallest towns. Their dedication is amazing. Calls come in at all hours of the day and night and these dedicated women and men drop whatever they are doing and respond rapidly and professionally to mitigate emergency situations.
If you have ever felt the urge to help your neighbors in their greatest time of need and build lasting relationships with other dedicated people like yourself, think about volunteering with your local fire department. I can personally attest to the amazing personal rewards that will be yours.
Currently the Eden Prairie Fire Department is seeking to increase overall staffing from 75 to 95. We are doing this because we are getting ready to build and open a fourth fire station in our city. More information is available by going to the recruit link to our website. Below is the lastest department photo taken this past Fall. New recruits are dressed in the light blue class “B” uniforms. Once they’ve been with us for 12 months they get issued the classic, class “A” uniform.
Click the photo for large, high-res version.
