Calling For Volunteer Firefighters!

What the Branford Fire Department wants and needs are more volunteer firefighters like Allen Dallas.

Dallas,(pictured above),has volunteered more than two years with the M.P. Rice Company, and recently completed Firefighter 1 training. He is now state certified as FF1 — a firefighter who can go into burning houses and fight interior fires, instead of exterior only. He has already started working on his Firefighter 2 courses.

“To me it’s important to be constantly training,” Dallas told the Eagle. The additional courses will provide training in vehicle extrication, hose testing, and incident command.

The words volunteer and firefighter are often found in the same sentence. They go hand and hand. But will those two words continue to be? Dallas believes these words go together; but the reality is that in a changing society the relationship between volunteer and firefighter is being tested as never before across the nation.

The 30-year-old became interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter years ago when he was an Eagle Scout. But he said the timing wasn’t right until recently to become more involved in the fire department. ​“I wanted to be able to help people when they need a hand,” he explained.

“I come from a family of cops,” Dallas said of his family’s dedication to public service. ​“As a volunteer, you can make a difference in your community. It helps everyone. Many hands make light work.”

His advice to anyone thinking of volunteer service: ​“If you have an interest in it, then follow it. Get involved— don’t stand on the sidelines. It’s all about wanting to help people.”

Volunteers and Career Firefighters

Branford Fire Chief Tom Mahoney knows the importance of volunteer firefighters. ​“We hope to bring attention to the need for volunteers and the value they bring to our community,” he told the Eagle in an interview.

Mahoney hosted an open house last spring to celebrate National Volunteer Firefighter Day in the hope that more residents would sign up to serve. And several did.

The chief is looking for young and middle-aged volunteers. ​“We need interior, structural firefighters; they are a majority of the fire operations. We are desperately in need of people who can achieve the Firefighter 1 certification level,” Mahoney said.

The Branford Fire Department is currently comprised of 36 career firefighters who are paid a salary, and 45 volunteers who are certified for interior firefighting. 

The career crew staffs Fire Headquarters 24 hours-a-day, every day of the year. Volunteers, who receive a small annual stipend, typically have full-time jobs and serve with the fire department when available.

The five volunteer fire companies are M.P. Rice Company 2; Short Beach Company 4; Stony Creek Company 5; Indian Neck/Pine Orchard Company 9; and Rescue Squad 1, which is made up of volunteers who are trained for special rescue and response.

Changing times have increased the amount of training needed, and the amount of time that people have to offer. 

“When I started out, it was ​‘here’s your rubber coat, here’s your helmet, welcome aboard’ and we gave you a little on-the-job training,” said Mahoney. ​“That was in Madison. They did the same thing here in Branford back in the day.” He began serving as a volunteer in Madison in 1987, came to Branford in 1995 and became chief last year after former Fire Chief Jack Ahern retired.

“The two biggest issues in the summit I attended recently with the fire chiefs is recruitment and retention of volunteers,” Mahoney said, adding that this is not just a state problem, but a nationwide issue.

“Now a volunteer firefighter is not simply given a helmet and a rubber coat. First they have to be certified and they have to take and pass the Firefighter 1 course. That’s the first step. It gets more complicated because for a fire department to qualify for federal grants, they want everyone to be a Firefighter 2. That requires additional training, and if you are an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician)  that is even more training. It’s a big time commitment,” Mahoney said.

The Firefighter 1 course requires several months of training, two nights a week and occasional weekends, plus passing the exam.

“The training is integral to becoming a new firefighter. But the new recruit doesn’t know that. He wants to get in there and start to fight the fire,” Mahoney explained. 

The chief said the time commitment for volunteers is a major consideration.

“In the volunteer ranks, we have 45 interior-certified volunteer firefighters,” he said. “By that I mean they can do all functions of being a firefighter, but they are not all trained in specialized rescues.” There are another 20 volunteers who are fire police or exterior certified. In addition, there are people who are social members, but are no longer able to give active service.

The chief said the five volunteer companies have a combined total of 45 FF1 volunteers, but back in the 1970s and early ’80s, each one of those companies had 45 active members. At that time, a firehouse was the center of a community and a social hub, especially in Short Beach and Stony Creek.

Mahoney said dividing 45 volunteers among the current five companies means there is a limited number available in each area. “On any given day, how many of those people are available?” 

But even though the number of volunteers have declined since the heyday in the early 1980’s. The chief said Branford is fortunate to have such a dedicated crew.

“We still have a pretty solid number of volunteer firefighters, it’s the availability of them at the time that they’re needed, that’s the unreliable part of the system,” he said.

The chief said people don’t realized how much volunteers do.  “They’re working their regular jobs and they’re with their families, and when they get alerted either by text message or radio pager, they leave what they’re doing, they drive to the firehouse and put on their gear and they go to the call.”

The department is using many avenues to reach out to prospective volunteers, including social media.

“We focus heavily on recruitment and retention. We try to make our training as accessible as possible, but we haven’t lowered our standards, and we won’t lower our standards because it’s too dangerous to do that,” Mahoney said.

Changing Times

The chief said family dynamics have changed over the years, with both parents working, sometimes multiple jobs. Which leaves little time for volunteering.

Decades ago, most volunteer firefighters were employed locally. But that’s no longer the case. “The people who worked in the Stony Creek Quarry, or at MIF, they were here. When the alarm went off, and typically it was a fire, they were allowed to leave their jobs. But now it is different. Businesses are not so eager to let them go. The owners say, ‘I can’t be without my guys. Time is money, competition is across the street,’” the chief said.

“So most of the people at work can’t leave work as readily as they used to,” he said. “And most don’t work in Branford anymore. They can be in North Haven, New Haven, Hartford. We have 45 interior volunteer firefighters….So which one of them is at work, or taking kids to soccer in Greenwich?”

Many volunteers come from firefighter families who have spent a lifetime in service. Some volunteers then become career firefighters. There are also teen-age volunteers. And there is one fire post in Branford, in Short beach, that accepts girls.

Short Beach HH&L, Co.4 Welcomes Young Women

Cara Samson (pictured}and Rachael Dalton, both age 15, are members of the Explorer Program. The Short Beach Co. 4 is the only fire house in the town of Branford with a program open to young women, The Explorer Program is overseen and sponsored by The Boy Scouts of America.

The Explorers advisors, Ian Scott Shackleton and Michelle Shackleton, said Samson and Dalton (pictured) ​“have strong ties to the community and are both deeply passionate about public service and future careers in medicine (Samson) and military service (Dalton). They are also competitive athletes and A students. 

“These bold and brave young women represent a new and invigorated generation of young people who actively seek to positively shape our collective futures… Short Beach Hose Hook and Ladder is proud to guide and support them on their journeys,” the Shackletons said of Samson and Dalton. When we caught up with the girls at a recent open house at fire headquarters, they told the Eagle they love their work

The fire department hired its first female career firefighter in 2010. Amanda Henriques (pictured) is also a paramedic. 

Chief Mahoney said, ​“We have people who have gone through the Boy Scouts training and they can come on training nights and participate. That is how Allen Dallas started and my son Tyler started. The younger people come into the department through the Explorer program, then as Cadets they are actually members of the department,” the chief said. Cadets, both girls and boys, may enroll at age 16. Since cadets are under age 18, the Connecticut Department of Labor regulates what they can do — they can’t be out past 10 p.m. and they can only ride in a fire truck with an adviser on board.

Calls Increasing

Mahoney said the number of emergency calls has increased, and so has the complexity. He said Branford has about 6,200 calls a year, which amounts to about 17 each day. ​“Our medical emergencies are the largest driver of our call volume,” the chief said, adding that they amount to 76 percent of overall calls.

“The medical emergencies are handled by our ambulances, but we also have to send first (fire) responders, and our volunteers are our first responders in the districts,” Mahoney said. If the medical calls are subtracted, there are 1,500 calls each year that are fire-related or service calls. ​“And that’s a lotta calls,” he said.

The chief said the volunteer and career firefighters are called upon to do many of the same jobs.

“The good news about the Branford Fire Department is that the career and volunteer staff work very well together. We don’t look at each other as different. We train together and we work well together,” said the chief, adding that is not the case in some towns.

Training is Critical

Capt. Michael Rebmann, a training officer in Branford, said training is ongoing daily. ​“The volunteers usually train two nights a week. The career staff trains every day,” he said.

“We basically cover every emergency there is — whether it’s a medical call, a house fire or a water rescue. You have to be ready to respond. Training is very essential,” said Rebmann, pictured at left above.

Capt. Harold Barringham, pictured at far right above, has been a volunteer with the MP Rice Company since 1997. ​“It’s about giving back to the community and helping our neighbors,” he said.

Barringham said the number of volunteers has dwindled because of time commitments to work and family. ​“There is a constant need for volunteers,” he said. ​“We can meet the needs currently, but long-range down the road, how few people are going to be here to volunteer?”

Barringham said the training is ​“nearly identical for career and volunteers” except career firefighters have more specialty training.

Barringham recalled responding in recent months to a structure fire on Ark Road, several reports of wires down, as first responder on medical calls, and at a number of traffic accidents. Volunteers are there, working alongside the career crews. ​“When they call in the Calvary, we’re right there,” he said.

Historic Volunteeers

Volunteer firefighters have been serving the country since colonial times, and the majority of fire companies nationwide are all-volunteer.

In the late 1770’s, George Washington was a volunteer firefighter in Alexandria, Virginia. In the 1730’s, Benjamin Franklin established the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia.

In 1899, Branford’s official volunteer fire companies were created — Hose Company 1; Hose Company 2, which was later named M.P. Rice Company; and the Martin Burke Hook and Ladder Company. Rice was a first selectman who was instrumental in establishing the fire department.

A devastating fire in 1900 led to the creation of the Stony Creek Rescue Hook and Ladder Company. The Pine Orchard Company was established in 1902, and later combined with Indian Neck Company. The Short Beach Hose Hook and Ladder company was founded in 1911. Branford’s history is replete with devastating fires chronicled here by the Eagle. 

Applications to become a volunteer firefighter are available on the department’s web site, and also at Fire Headquarters at 45 North Main Street.

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