Dear Editor,
What if your house was on fire and no one came? We have a very impressive all-volunteer fire department here in the community. In order to be able to continue our success in taking care of our friends and neighbors, we need volunteers.
What does it mean to be a volunteer? It means that if one, volunteers come out every Tuesday night for one to two hours. In order to be safe, we have a training program that we have our volunteers complete.
This will take additional time to complete the course. Once a volunteer is certified, they are then asked to respond to calls when they are available — any time of the day or night. In years past, the average number of calls per year have been 60-70 calls. Since October 2014 we have recorded 72 dispatches.
The dispatches range from burning structures, chimney fires, smell of smoke, motor vehicle accidents, assisting other community organizations including the ambulance corps, and local law enforcement, and sadly, a significant number of false alarms either to defective alarms or unauthorized burning.
While this opportunity isn’t just for anyone, it can be very rewarding to save someone’s home or even life. Anyone between the ages of 18-45 can apply to become a volunteer. A volunteer will need the support of their employer to allow them to take time away if a call comes in during work hours. Sadly, this often means a loss of income for the absence from the job to our volunteers.
We do not compensate our volunteers. There are several things that we do provide volunteers at no cost: 24-7 Accidental Death and/or Dismemberment insurance policy; Coverage in the case of accident while volunteering which includes time lost from a volunteer’s wages; Spouses/Orphans insurance in the unlikely event a firefighter dies while actively responding to an event; and contributions toward a pension. In our community we have quite a few retired volunteers that are receiving up to $300/month in pension payments.
It’s been my pleasure to support the Forks/Beaver Fire Department (Clallam Co. Fire Protection District #1) for over 20 years. Our department has accomplished a lot through the heroics of our volunteers. An untold number of structures have been saved — both the burning ones and sometimes adjacent buildings.
We’ve come a long way from Benjamin Franklin’s first volunteer fire department which was a bucket brigade. Here in Forks we have records of a volunteer fire department since 1939! In the West End we have several departments: Forks/Beaver, Quillayute, LaPush and Clallam Bay. All departments are in need of volunteers.
While we can’t all serve as volunteer firefighters, it’s my hope that we can strengthen our department and find some more volunteers to meet our community’s needs. If you or someone you know may be interested in volunteering in the Forks/Beaver area, please contact Chief Bill Paul by calling 374-5561 (please leave a message — he too is a volunteer and may be at work when you call). Our department is in critical need of volunteers available during business hours (Mondays-Fridays).
I’d like to thank all those who have and/or are currently volunteering. Our community is better because of your commitment to protect our lives and property. Thank You!!
Regards,
Deb Palmer, Secretary CCFPD1
