Is It Worth It?

The time of year where firefighting returns to the spotlight is once again in full swing in Cape May County with last month’s New Jersey State Fireman’s Association Convention and this week’s national Fire Prevention Week festivities. The opportunity to highlight the dangers of various fire dangers (Kitchen Fires this year) is a vital one for departments around the county, but it also gives them the opportunity to answer any questions their residents may have.
One of the most common questions I get when people find out that I’m a volunteer firefighter is “Why do you do it?” Many people struggle to understand why on earth someone would want to volunteer their own time, in an often dangerous field, and do for free what thousands of firefighters across the country are employed to do each day.
Often times, those in the emergency service wonder why as well. After running dozens of false alarms each month, one can begin to wonder if their time is even worth responding to the same house for the fourth time that day because the owner is too stubborn to call the alarm mechanic.
And in all honesty, the factors as to why it’s worth it seem to be stacked against our favor. In order to be certified as a firefighter or an emergency medical technician, it takes hundreds of hours of class and field experience to be able to legally practice your service. This takes months out of a volunteer’s life—they’re almost taking on a second profession, or second school load.
Once you obtain your certification, many find that it isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be in the movies. This isn’t Backdraft or Ladder 49. Unless you live in a city that is constantly responding to metropolitan areas, you aren’t going to catch a big fire all the time. Cities that are constantly burning are the ones that are paying firefighters to respond to three fires a day—fires that many departments in our area only see three times a year.
The reality is that more time is spent responding to fire alarms set off by burnt toast, fender benders that happen when traffic is slowed, and a child with a stubbed toe than responding to house fires with people trapped, massive accidents with carnage aplenty, and pumping a chest to revive someone.
Often times, those you’re responding to help find you as more of a nuisance than a help. If you’re responding to a house for a fire alarm set off by someone who burnt their toast, they don’t think you need to be there, and they’re going to let you know. And when we do respond to the bad accident, or the devastating fire, you’ll hear more of “Why weren’t you here quicker?” and “This is what my tax dollars are paying for?” than you’ll here “I’m glad you left your family to help a stranger.”
So with all dedication and requirements necessary to be berated, belittled and disregarded as wasteful by those you’re trying to help, what makes it worth it? Why should you volunteer at all?
It’s worth it because your volunteering matters, even if you don’t feel like it does. One of the things that make working in emergency services different from other professions is that you have the ability to interact with people at their most vulnerable.
That fender bender might seem like a waste of time to you, but to the 17-year-old behind the wheel, it could be the worst moment of their life. And they aren’t going to care that you went through 150 hours of training to know how to get them out of the car if need be—what will be important to them is that you held their hand as you put them on the stretcher. They’ll remember that you made them smile, or offered their child a plastic fire helmet and calmed them down.
And years from now, you might encounter them in Wawa. And they’ll remember you. Chances are, they won’t be thanking you for operating your hydraulic rescue tools flawlessly to get them out of their car, or that you knocked down the fire before it tore through the remainder of their house. They’ll say “You were at my accident, you loaded my Christmas presents in the ambulance so I wouldn’t lose them,” or “When my house was on fire, you brought out my family pictures off the wall.”
In the circle of life, everyone will be involved in tragedies. Some will be the ones affected, and most will be the ones watching the events unfold on the sidelines. But as an emergency responder, you’re the ones being watched. It’s not all glorious, and you may never get to resuscitate a man with a heart attack, or rescue a trapped woman from a second story window. But in their darkest moment, however minuscule to you that moment was, you were there.
Emergency services aren’t like sports: who puts out the fire the quickest, or who cleans up an accident the best isn’t what matters. Statistics can show response times, and property saved, but they can’t show the personal impact you’ve made on someone that just needed help. And in the end, that’s what really matters.
Knoll, 21, of Eldora, can be contacted by email at beyondtheflamescmc@gmail.com. He is a student at Rowan University.