Fun with Firefighters
As the weather warms and the flowers bloom, our minds turn toward summer vacations, family outings or pleasant evenings spent with a sweetheart. One enjoyable evening event found in many of our local communities, to be shared with family or a special friend, is the annual volunteer fire department carnival.
The traveling carnival is a special happening dating back to the late 19th century in the United States, and has been adopted as a fund raising vehicle for our volunteer fire departments. It brings friends, neighbors and community outsiders together for fun while supporting a good cause.
Actually, it is more than a good cause. Today’s fire department carnival helps to fund a critical public safety function, our local fire and rescue services. It supports both our volunteer and professional firefighters as well as EMS and rescue personnel with training and equipment needs. These necessities are vital to their mission, protecting our community from, and responding to, a broad range of man-made and natural disasters large and small.
The first volunteer fire department in the nation was formed by Benjamin Franklin, printer, author, diplomat and signer of both our nation’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution. In 1736, Franklin established the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 30 volunteers.
Other famous Americans who are said to have had "volunteer firefighter" on their resumes include: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, John Barry, Aaron Burr, Benedict Arnold, James Buchanan and Millard Fillmore.
Our contemporary volunteers are in good company.
Here in Frederick County, we live in the home of the oldest continually operating fire company in the state of Maryland. The Independent Hose Company founded in 1818 is approaching its 200th anniversary of continuous operation, two centuries of protecting the citizens of Frederick.
These days it is increasingly difficult to sustain the volunteer participation in our fire-rescue service that is necessary to provide the level of protection our community expects. The brave men and women who give their all in volunteering to protect our community face increasingly dangerous vulnerabilities as our society has become more dependent on a broad range of hazardous materials. Their training, protective equipment and suppression equipment needs have become increasingly sophisticated and more expensive. Volunteer firefighters need and deserve our support.
The next time you see fire-rescue apparatus or an ambulance responding to an emergency, think about the professional and volunteer personnel who are rushing toward something most will run away from. Think about the training and equipment you helped them to acquire through supporting your local fire department carnival. Consider what it might cost our community in taxes if it were not for the active volunteer fire-rescue force.
As we go about our day-to-day lives, busy with work, family, and other obligations too often the critical function performed by our volunteer fire departments is taken for granted. The annual fire department carnival provides an opportunity to support our local fire and rescue personnel and have fun while doing so.
Karl Bickel has been published in the Baltimore Sun, The Frederick News-Post, Police Chief Magazine and many other venues as well as being quoted in USA Today, Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, The Washington Examiner and many more. He can be reached at KarlBickel@comcast.net
