“What’s more exciting than going” to a fire “on a big red truck with lights and sirens to help someone in their worst moments and just make their day a little bit better?” said Lt. John Coleman of the East Great Plain Volunteer Fire Company in Norwich during a May telephone interview.

Calls in Norwich and other cities/towns (referred to as mutual aid) include responding to fires, fire alarms, elevator entrapments, car accidents, boat emergencies, assisting in search and rescue, providing backup to American Ambulance Service, pumping water out of basements, and occasionally rescuing cats from trees.

Becoming a volunteer member is “a good way to give back to your community and gives you something to do when you’re bored,” said Coleman, 21, who has been with the fire department since he was 16 and a cadet. “Every day is different.”

The firehouse chaplain said he became a volunteer firefighter because he loves giving back to his community and wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, uncles and distant cousins. “It was kind of like a family tradition.”

Volunteer firefighters interviewed by telephone for this story said their firehouse becomes like a family and they help each other any way they can.

Yantic Fire Department Company #1 Deputy Chief “B.J.” Herz said they also become friends with other volunteer companies in Norwich and other towns through socializing and training classes.

Coleman said they’re “always in need of members, but now it’s a little bit more critical,” unlike decades ago when he heard people fought to get on the fire trucks.

Volunteer firefighters in Norwich range in age from 20 to early 80s. A majority of them are in their 40s and 50s.

Before about 1978, they used to have a waiting list to join Taftville Fire Company #2, said Chief Tim Jencks, adding they answer about 800 calls annually. Now that both parents in families work, people have less time to volunteer.

“You don’t know who’s going to be coming to help you” when there is a call, Coleman said. “You could get two members; you could get five members, or you could get 20. It all depends on if people are working, if people are around. That’s when we call mutual aid, because everyone is having problems. So we are all here to help each other. So if we don’t get new members, but Yantic gets new members, that’s fantastic, because they can help us out or vice versa.”

The age range at Laurel Hill Volunteer Fire Company #6 is different, said Deputy Chief Peter Clark, 42.

“We’re very fortunate where we have a good mix of people,” ranging from 20s to 60s with an average age of 35. Included in the mix are four members in the Navy. “Their brains are like a superpower. The Navy trains them well. They’re all instructors.”

He said becoming a volunteer firefighter helped him in his paying job at Stop & Shop and that he now works as a computer systems instructor for the company.

“When I became the fire service instructor, it helped teach me how to teach people. I applied what I learned at the firehouse to my everyday job.”

What’s involved in volunteering

Volunteers are asked to respond to calls when they have free time and are in the area. Just how much volunteers work is up to them, Coleman said. “Of course, work and family comes first.”

New East Great Plains members go through probationary training every Wednesday for two hours over a span of a year and a half to learn the fire service trade before taking a test. Time schedules vary at each fire company. Different weekly topics include how to hook up to a fire hydrant, how to work all the saws, as well as fire science in general.

The firehouse also sends new members to other classes, which is basically everything they have already learned in probationary training, to become state-certified – all paid for by the volunteer department, Coleman said.

“If people are looking to be a career firefighter to get paid, becoming a volunteer would be a good stepping stone to get all the certifications and whatnot,” he added.

Probationary members also gain hands-on experience at a big tower at Eastern Connecticut Fire School in Willimantic, Coleman said. “They can light things on fire there. They put in smoke machines to simulate actual fire. They teach you how fire behaves and how to put it out.”

New members can also choose to become an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) or an Emergency Medical Technical (EMT), which is more advanced; classes are paid for by the fire company.

“Lots of people come here, just to see what it’s all about and want to focus on medical stuff. And then throughout the training, they see what it’s like and how fun it is and they decide to switch over and do the fire side as well,” Coleman said.

In a few weeks, he said they will be going door to door in the fire district to promote fire service and ask residents if they ever considered becoming a firefighter.

Herz said when they go door to door in Yantic, a lot of people think they’re getting paid and are “just flabbergasted” to learn they’re 100 percent volunteer.

Male and female high school students between the ages of 15 and 17 who are interested in fire service can apply to become cadets and attend cadet and probationary trainings at East Great Plains. While under constant supervision, they can also “go on certain calls if they’re during the daytime, nothing past certain hours due to being a minor,” Coleman said, and help with “exterior operations” such as shuttling air pack bottles to get refilled and hooking hoses to hydrants. “You’re pretty much an assistant.”

Tax breaks, relief fund

Once cadets turn 18, their “probationary period is somewhat cut in a quarter,” Coleman said, because they’ve already gained some knowledge. At this point, they work on things they couldn’t do before like climbing ladders and operating certain tools.

Norwich volunteers receive a $1,500 car/home tax abatement. The discount might go up to $2,000 later this year. They can also collect from the Firefighters Relief Fund after 20 continuous years of service if they contribute $286 annually, attend yearly training classes and go on a minimum of 20 percent of calls or 150 calls, Jencks said.

Volunteering at a firehouse was something Occum Volunteer Fire Department Chief Scott Eggert said he always wanted to do. “So this was part of me giving back to the community other than just doing my normal day job of being in the Navy as a corpsman on submarines.”

The Michigan native added, “I just like volunteering, the pride, the satisfaction of helping others. It’s what I love to do.”

His wife, Jessica Eggert, is also a firefighter/EMT, as well as an EMS captain.

“It was kind of just in my blood,” said Jessica, who has been coming to the fire department since she was 5 years old with her father, who was also a firefighter. “I love helping people. I like being there to help them on their bad days when they really need us.”

Herz, 55, said firefighting is in “his blood” from both sides of his family. His father was a paid firefighter and his son, Adam Herz, is currently a fire lieutenant in Yantic.

“It was just something that always piqued my interest,” Herz said. “I didn’t get into it until after high school and just kind of fell in love with it, just the camaraderie, helping out.

“I think some of the best part for us helping people is when they come back. You saw them at their worst time” during an incident such as a heart attack or car accident, “and they’re still here because of what we or any firefighter or EMS person did on that particular day.”

For more information about becoming a firefighter, EMT or EMR or to download an application, contact the fire company in or near your district.

Jan Tormay, a longtime Norwich resident, now lives in Westerly.