More Volunteers Needed for the Somers Fire Department

[Oaks 18]

Article in the Somers Record. Nicely written, goes into the history of the SFD and all.

 

Quote

 

SOMERS, N.Y. - People call the Somers Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) for all sorts of reasons, says Chief George Wahlers.

 

During 2015, the SVFD handled well over 2,000 incidents. These included commercial and residential fire alarms, motor vehicle accidents, electrical hazards, smoke and odor investigations, structural fires and cries for assistance from neighboring towns.

 

 

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/somers/articles/more-volunteers-needed-for-the-somers-fire-depart

[dwcfireman 656]

This is the story for every volunteer department.  We all need more volunteers.  We need more firefighters to fill the seats and to respond to even the most mundane alarms.  Spreading the word through news and social media definitely helps, as does recruitment drives.  It would be nice to one day say that we have enough trained personnel on all of the rigs, but that day is far away.

 

I would also like to note that the second article (literally just below this one) is for a puppy stuck in a tree.  How does that happen?  haha

[dwcfireman 656]

51 minutes ago, EmsFirePolice said:

I totally agree with your statement, however some departments do have better response times, manpower to fill multiple calls, etc. than other departments.

 

100% true.  Some departments are lucky to have people around during "normal" business hours (daytime), and some departments have response times equivalent to most paid departments.  It's really the luck of the draw on this.  It's either the cards are in your favor, or you've bust.  It would be awesome to see every department have the upper hand with manpower, training, response times, etc.  Unfortunately, we live in a time and place that volunteerism isn't at a high like it was in the in the 1970's and 80's.  The good news is a lot of departments ARE coming out the low point (as volunteerism, especially in emergency services, is cyclical).  Things are slowly kicking back into shape.  I can speak for my department where we have been processing a lot of new firefighters.  We're lucky to be getting the manpower...Now we just have to retain them!

 

And can anyone answer me as to how a dog gets it's head stuck in a tree?!?!