| Finding volunteers is always a difficult task for most volunteer fire departments, but depending on the need, the recruiting practices can differ.
Take the Fulshear-Simonton VFD, for example. Due to Fulshear's recent growth - which is expected to increase - FSVFD is experiencing a major influx of emergency calls. The need for volunteers is extreme.
Years ago, FSVFD handled a small rural area with two or three calls a month, but now it handles between 50 and 70 calls in that same 30-day period, said Herc Meier, who has been the chief since 1975.
The growth brings more people, and more potential volunteers, to the area, but “most people just cannot work full time and volunteer,” he said.
Meier said a city's growth is always a good thing, but more importantly he notes that growth “is an inevitable thing.” Ignoring the growth, embracing the growth, or being anxious about the growth is not relevant to the department's concerns.
“What matters is that we meet (the growth) head on and prepare for it instead of waiting and stumbling through it,” he said.
To meet the demands of the area, the department is currently accepting applications, but Meier said there are qualities that are required of volunteers, all of which deal with their motivation and drive.
“I want people who have honesty, integrity and a will to serve the community,” he stressed.
Kendleton VFD's situation is a bit of different story. Kendleton's population is approximately 466 residents, much smaller than the Fulshear-Simonton area, so the volunteer demand may not be as great.
As part of fire prevention week, KVFD visited Powell Point School students not only to talk about fire safety but also to discuss what it means to be a firefighter.
Brian Johnson, KVFD assistant chief, detailed the ways to extinguish a fire, and it was this part of the program that interested most of the students. Especially when he pulled out his firefighting equipment. From questions concerning how heavy is the uniform to what is the hardest type fire to extinguish, some students were already seeing themselves as future firefighters.
The saying, “get them while they're young”, could apply here. While educating the students about fire prevention safety, it seems KVFD also sparked an interest in these young students to become a firefighter, which could prove beneficial in the future.
But Johnson wants them to focus on being a student at the moment because one important quality volunteers must have is education.
“You've got to get your education to do this,” Johnson said. “There's no way around that.”
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