Recruitment

The Aurora and Osborn Volunteer Fire Departments need more members. Those who are currently serving our community with medical, rescue and fire response are aging out. Without more help, we will have to close the department or limit its responses.

What will happen when the department closes? Insurance will become more expensive for homeowners and businesses in the area. Response times for emergency services, medical and fire (including responses to vehicle accidents) will become an hour or more.

What do we need? We need people committed to helping other community members. Right now, we average about 60 calls a year, or 5 a month. About 60% of these calls only require one or two people to respond and last about an hour. These would be medical calls that require Northern Lights to treat and transport a sick person, or trees down in the road, electrical lines down, events that one or two people can handle. What requires manpower are traffic accidents where traffic control is needed, medical calls that require heavy lifting or extrication to get the patient to the ambulance. Such calls usually last an hour and a half to two hours. Fires (about 5 a year) are infrequent events, and they range from small grass fires to house fires requiring lots of manpower, time, and help from other departments. Basic training to do maintenance and help with calls is about 8 hours, much of it done online. Being a member doesn’t mean having to devote lots of time.

What can the Aurora VFD offer? We have worker’s comp and liability insurance. We are currently providing stipends for attendance at fire department trainings and functions, up to $500.00 tax free annually. We are considering paying hourly wages if it will bring in new members. We pay for equipment and training needed by members, ranging from routine Bureau of Labor Training to Emergency Medical Technician and Fire Fighter I or higher. Such training can lead to better jobs for people. We have open invitations to train with area fire departments that provide quality training.

We can use non-emergency help, particularly in vehicle, station and equipment repair and maintenance, and department administration jobs like inventory, accounting, grant writing, etc. People to drive trucks are always needed.

Most of all we need people dedicated to helping others in the community. People who are willing to take up the challenge of learning new things. Members who will respond when they can. “Many hands make light work.”

When I started as chief some time ago, I was familiar with emergency response in the woods after being a game warden. I knew very little about volunteer fire departments. I’ve learned all I can about being a fire fighter, emergency medical responder, chief and running a safe and Bureau of Labor compliant department.

I’ve also learned that universally those who volunteer to help others are some of the nicest and most interesting people. They are willing to make their communities a better place to live. If you would like information on the department and what we do, please contact us.

Deborah Palman, Chief, 207-944-1131, email dpalman1@rivah.net

Crystal Butterfield, Dep. Chief, 207-460-2755, email crystalbutterfield26@gmail.com