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78-year-old
wrote the book on volunteering
Written
by Jim Six - Reprinted courtesy of the Gloucester County Times - February 21, 2002
I did
a story not too long ago about how difficult it is to
become and remain a volunteer firefighter in these days
of stringent training requirements. Some in the fire service
would like to see more incentives offered, ways to lessen
at least the cost of all the training the state demands
of someone who is giving his or her own time to race into
burning buildings on behalf of the rest of us.
State Sen. John Matheussen was as good as his word. While
talking to him for that story, I mentioned that some firefire
chiefs, like Joe Petsch of Star Cross, who is also president
of the Gloucester County Fire Chiefs Association, complain
about being nickel and dimed to death by the state, paying
$5 for every new certification. John didn't know about
the $5 fee and, even before touching base with Joe Petsch,
said he'd introduce legislation to eliminate them. He's
done just that.
Still, it's a never-ending discussion, a puzzle without
a solution: How do you attract and keep good volunteer
firefighters?
Don't get all excited. I haven't found an answer. But
I have found a darn good example.
Norman Owen joined the East Greenwich Fire. Co. on Feb.
24, 1942. Fire Chief dale Zane said Wednesday that last
year, Norman had the highest percentage of incidents attended. |
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Now 78, Norman spent most of his working life as a machinist
for Mobil Oil. He retired Jan. 1, 1983 after 37 years on the
job.
"I haven't done a thing since," he said with a chuckle.
"I was always interested in where they went when the alarm
went off," he said when asked why he volunteered in the first
place. "It's always been one of my biggest interests."
There was "not as much activity in those days as there is
now. Along about 1948, I think, we had 16 calls one year,"
he said. The population of East Greenwich in those days was
maybe 2,000, he said. Todat it's three times that.
"Along with Mount Royal, we covered the whole township, all
three towns," said Norman.
"We had metal helmets back then. We had open trucks in those
days," he recalled.
"We had some fire hydrantsin the three towns, but when I joined,
we had a truck that had a pump on it and a truck that was
a water tank," he said.
Another big difference is that "tehre were more guys then
than there are now," Norman said. "Offhand, I can't remember
how many would attend a meeting, maybe 10 or 12, but by the
same token, there weren't as many fire calls and things weren't
as concentrated. We had up to 20 at some meetings." |
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