Barriere Fire Rescue hopes to recruit more volunteers at its newly rescheduled open house, set for Sunday, Feb. 26.
The event, which starts at 11 a.m. at the fire department on Barriere Town Road, will explain the role of volunteers and the advantages they receive. Volunteers have access to a range of training, from hazmat awareness and operations, to high-angle rescue training and an online swift water course.
“I love helping my community, but I also love the adrenaline. You learn so many things,” said Alexis Hovenkamp, who has been a volunteer firefighter with Barriere Fire Rescue for roughly five years.
Volunteers always have direction from Barriere Fire Rescue’s fire officers, led by Fire Chief Ashley Wohlgemuth. At least one of the officers should always be in command to direct the available volunteers in case of an emergency.
Hovenkamp said she enjoys learning interesting and life-saving skills with her team, which always has a positive attitude. One of her most notable training sessions included livestock animal extraction and rescue training, she said. This included learning to free animals trapped in dangerous structures.
Adding volunteers to the roster will result in better coverage for the community, she added.
“What makes it hard not having the right number of people, is it puts a lot more stress on the people who do show up regularly. If you go to a structure fire and you only have four people show up for the initial call, that is a lot of hard work for four people. Many hands make light work.”
Volunteers are not expected to be available to respond to all emergencies but must participate in training and make some time commitments. As most volunteers work, the team coordinates who is available to respond to emergencies via an app that shows who is available at a given time.
Since many people work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., it is especially helpful to have a team full of people with varying work schedules, Hovenkamp added.
Hovenkamp is personally trained to assist in highway rescues resulting from collisions and other roadside emergencies. Her skills including helping to extract someone stuck in a damaged vehicle or other dangerous structure. Another common way she assists the emergency response during a roadside emergency is by helping to control dangerous gasoline spills.
However, she emphasized that there are many roles needed at Barriere Fire Rescue. People can train to provide support with specific tasks such as public education or handling animals. A single volunteer does not need to take on every role at the fire rescue.
“Our biggest priority is always going to be our firefighters,” Hovenkamp said. “If you do not want to do highway rescue because you are not comfortable with it, that is totally fine by us because we understand some of the stuff you see is not suited for everybody.”
Updates about Barriere Fire Rescue are available on its Facebook page: www.facebook.com/BarriereFireRescue/.