If action is what you're looking for, Pineview Volunteer Fire Department has plenty of it.
The fire and medical response team, comprised of volunteers who train weekly for the certifications needed to look after their neighbourhood's emergencies, is on a record-setting pace. Their normal call volume for a year is between 100-120 but they are just passed halfway through the year and already sit at 111 calls for service.
The 21-or-so members have never felt so needed, or so pushed to respond well. When the alarm sounds, they have to leave their families and jobs as best they can to get to the incident - everything from fires to vehicle crashes to medical distress - so they need help.
Leading the recruitment campaign are three who have seen just about every kind of incident and every kind of person who could join up for the PVFD. Captain Ken Schinkel and deputy chief Lorne Koch were recipients this week of their 20-year service citations and chief Lyle Wood received his 30-year citation. These came with medals and certificates from the office of the Governor General.
"The two guys who got their 20 years, like me, were born and raised in Pineview. They joined to do community service, and they are still doing it," said Wood. "Since the time we joined, our lives have had turmoil like pagers going off in the middle of your family functions or while you're at work. But the big thing is, you know you are doing it with people who are skilled and passionate like you, and you know you are protecting your neighbours. These are people who care deeply about other people, and they work hard to have the skills to help those in need at critical times."
It helps to involve families as much as possible in the social aspects of any volunteer fire department, or in the many support roles a VFD needs. There are many tasks other than fighting the fires. The oldest PVFD member is in his 70s and he helps direct traffic, change out air bottles, drive vehicles, and so on.
There are three women who are part of the active crew with two more in the recruitment phase. There have been as many as eight women in PVFD uniform at once.
The youngest recruit currently is 16, but teens (and their parents) become full members of the department in a series of phases, so they are not exposed to tasks and stresses they aren't well rehearsed for. There is also a lot of one-on-one mentorship between veterans and rookies.
There are federal and provincial standards that must be met for all departments and their crews, and all is overseen by the Regional District.
"We socialize a lot, which helps families be more familiar with the fire hall and the other members of the department, it helps the community know who we are and what we do, and it gives our members some fun," said Wood. "That's important for recruitment and retention. It's harder these days to get people to commit because of all the time constraints people have, but it sure is a great way to learn life skills and meet great people and help out your community in a meaningful way."
Wood said all volunteer fire departments are in the same need of new people, so he urges anyone with feelings of interest to contact their nearest department. Even people who live inside Prince George can join one of the area's many VFDs or the PG Regional Highway Rescue Society.
"Every time the pager goes off, I get the same feeling I did when I started 30 years ago," he said. "It's an adrenalin rush and there is nothing like it."
