Volunteerism at its Best - Volunteer Firemen

This article is a salute to Lucas County’s Volunteer Firemen.  An American volunteer is a very special and unique person.  He is not a newcomer.  He has been on the scene in this country since the beginning of our nation.  In fact, the first shot that was fired in the struggle for our independence was from the gun of a volunteer.  Other countries have had token voluntarism but in America alone, the art has reached its finest flower.

Men and women alike have given their time, effort and energy in causes of health, education, music and the visiable arts, child welfare, the aged, the sick and the handicapped.

It is difficult to think of any good cause that has not had its share of the work of the volunteer.  He gives of himself to others without any thought of payment – in money.  He wants only to help in a job that needs to be done and his pay comes in the warmth of human relations, in the satisfaction of a job well done and for no other reason than that he wanted to do it and for which words can never do justice.

It has long been a part of the genius of American life that people in all walks of life can work together, overcome any kind of obstacles and end up with a production, a result, or an accomplishment that would be astounding in any other country on earth.  It is such an integral part of our fabric of life that we take it for granted.

Not the least of these organizations is the Volunteer fire Departments of which Lucas county has five.  These are neighbors who, not infrequently, risk their lives and their limbs to save property or life in the fighting one of Nature’s most awesome forces.  When the siren tears the air apart with its terrifying shriek, every fireman, no matter what he is doing, jumps halfway to the door and is gone in seconds.  It used to be said that the firemen were on the speeding wagon and half way to the fire before the whistle quit blowing.  Even if this were a slight exaggeration, it conveys the splendid ‘Espirit de Corps’ of the department – their devotion to duty above self and their almost jealous regard for the honor of their organization as a whole.

‘Hear the loud alarm bells!  Brave Bells!
What a tale of terror now their turbulence tells!
In the startled ear of night, how they scream out their affright!
' Too much horrified to speak, they can only shriek!
In the clamorous appealing, in the mercy of the fire,
In the sad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher
How they clang and clash and roar, What a horror they out pour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
How the danger sinks and swells, by the sinking or the swelling
In the anger of the bells.  In the clamor and the clanger of the bells.’

POE