Always

The United States of America has a rich history in the world of firefighting. From 1736 with Benjamin Franklin’s first fire company to today, the vibrant world of advanced firefighting techniques have overcome some of the greatest of challenges. Fire departments have left us in a better place than yesterday, and make us feel safer about tomorrow.
The story of firefighting is a story of war; war against a loathed yet revered enemy, war against sleepless nights, endless hours and the seemingly endless fight for safety. No matter what we do, there will always be someone’s property on fire, or an automotive accident to re-spond to.
While many lay asleep in bed at night, the tones from a call resonate through the radios of the volunteer firefighters. Responding in a moment’s notice in the dead of night, men and wom-en alike rush to their cars and drive to the department. Within minutes of the call the garage doors are opening and the and scream of the siren pierces the night. The lights, visible for miles, light up the night sky and from the inside of the cab, the firemen are making decisions for the quickest route possible.
Rural areas in Oklahoma depend on the local volunteer fire departments as there first line of defense. Volunteer departments are called to any number of type of emergencies including fire, medical, terrorist events, natural disasters, water rescue, hazardous material accidents, con-founded space emergencies and any number of possibilities. Volunteer firefighters dedicated countless hours of training to better prepare themselves for possible emergencies. The number of emergency calls has drastically increased over the years.
It’s an unfortunate truth that some argue volunteer fire departments should be eliminat...

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...first line of defense against any number of crisis. Many times people say it comes down to money, but what are you willing to pay for safety? In reality volunteer departments are more effective than funding a full time paid department. Although it in rare occasions when fire fighters abuse the system or become arsonist themselves we have to look at the big picture and realize it is but a very small percent, and do not all professions have people who abuse the system?
Without proper prior planning, i.e. volunteer departments the fire districts would become more and more dangerous. Response times would drastically increase thus creating a more serious problem, money would be mis allocated and fire districts would become danger zones. It is per-tinent that we realize the dangers of such rational decisions and take responsible actions in the pursuit of public safety.