I drove past Billy Webster this afternoon as I was coming home from the farmer’s market, and I didn’t know his name then but saw him washing every inch of the Cambridge Fire Department Engine 58-TA-221.
I pulled over and asked him if I could take a photo of him and the fire engine and he said sure, as firemen often do. They are very proud of what they do and for good reason.
In the country, they are eager to talk to people in their communities, as they desperately need support. The hard-pressed volunteer companies remain, in many ways, the heart and soul of communities like ours. In our town, they are the very symbol of community and trust.
As a child and as a reporter, I was always drawn to firemen, a rare and proud and often heroic breed of man, and now women. When I was eight, I trekked to the nearby firehouse and was allowed to sit in the cab and if I was patient, even turn on the siren.
They would never let me come along on fires, but I did fantasize about being one and was welcome to hang around the station. I have never forgotten their kindness.
Billy Webster sure looked the part, I might have tagged him as a fireman anywhere, and I sat that as a compliment. He was rubbing and brushing and sweating, and the engine looked as if it had just rolled off of the production line.
I’ve never seen a dirty fire engine outside of a firehouse in the country. Billy was larger than life.
If I am ever trapped in a fire in the upper reaches of our farmhouse, Billy is the person I would most want to see coming up the ladder to rescue me and or Maria (and the dogs too, no doubt.)
We are a divided and polarized country, but the idea hasn’t yet poisoned or filtered down to the volunteers of the Cambridge Fire Department or the thousands of volunteer companies like them that dot the country. There is no polarism in this firehouse, if you call for help, they come running.
Alone among government and bureaucracies, if you call the firemen, you know for sure they will come as quickly as they can. The volunteers are our neighbors and friends. They always show up, and often at great risk to themselves.
They are the original first responders and they are equal opportunity rescuers.
They don’t stop and ask who you voted for or what political party you joined. I don’t care what anybody says, the idea of community is alive in the small towns of America. If you ever doubt it, just walk into any firehouse while the volunteers are scrubbing their engines, as they do obsessively several times a week.
Volunteer companies are one of the things that rarely, if ever, exist in urban communities. They give us something important to share. I had no hesitation writing a check to the fire company for their new building.
I really like knowing they are there, and I realized today, that a photo of a volunteer engine being washed is an iconic American photo.
I caught Billy cleaning the engine because he is going to drive it in a parade in nearby Hoosick Falls. Our town doesn’t have a Fourth of July Parade, so he’s happy to help out the other towns, the volunteers love to parade their engines down Main Streets, sirens and horns blaring and honking.
I had a really nice talk with Billy. I loved his openness, enthusiasm, and dedication to helping people in trouble. He is one of the big men in trucks that make life work up here and binds us together.
He knew of the blog and said he had seen me crawling around the country with a camera, he’s been a fireman a long time and loves this work. You can feel his commitment to the fire company and to this way of helping his town.
Our town is tough on school budgets but loves its fire company. Recently, the town raised nearly $4 million to build a beautiful new firehouse. They deserve it. As you can see in the photo, the old municipal building was built for horses, and it was and is a white knuckle matter.
The new station opens in July. “Stop by,” Billy said, “we’d love to show you around.” Deal.
Praise to all firemen. What would we do without them? Kids love to see the engines making their way down Main Streets – lights flashing and horns blaring during parades. Many of these folks are volunteers in small communities.
I have just written a very long response to Maria’s sad and revealing blog entry.
It has been flagged as malicious entry.
I am no longer going to contribute to either of your blogs . Something must have gone terribly wrong.
Good bye and best wishes to you both.
Erika, I had a similar response sometime last week (although I don’t remember to which blog I was posting). I simply went to my device’s “settings”, put my device on airplane mode, scrolled down to my browser name, and hit the “clear history and website data”. Then resubmitted my post with no problem.
Thanks, Amy, I past Erika’s message along to the techs and they have absolutely no knowledge of this except to say it desn’t come from us. THey are checking to make sure there is no hacker or scammer mischief.
Erika, neither Maria nor I sent you any such message. Maria’s blog is undergoing some renovations and there have been several reports of messages being returned, although nothing like that. We don’t have any such message to send to people who write on the blog. There may be a software glitch of some kind on our end or yours, although there are no reports of that besides yours and Amy. We’ll check it out. I’m sorry you didn’t ask us about this rather than storm out the door, but I’m sure it was upsetting. We didn’t send it, and Maria has other things on her mind. Donations have nothing to do with software glitches.
“Community lives in rural fire departments” is absolutely positively right. When the pandemic started in 2020 and people were losing their jobs, our little village’s Fire Department started a baby formula and diaper donation drive. They ran a whole vaccination program for adults (boosters included) and are now vaccinating the little kids who just became eligible. They handle animal control/stray animals and when my neighbor’s dog fell in a hole his other dog had dug in his backyard, the fire crew came over and got him out. They protect the little ducklings whose moms laid their eggs in unprotected spots. They do water rescue of people, horses and livestock from the irrigation ditches and the Rio Grande. They know where every family in need lives and keep an eye out for them. Ambulances arrive before you get off the phone. It seems like handling fires are the least of their services.
Thank you for a great Fourth of July memory with this serendipitous photo and blog! How American. Truly.
Even though I live in a small city, there are volunteer fire departments in the small towns around here. Years ago when my basement flooded from rain/snow melt the guys down around the corner came and pumped out my basement. They told me that usually you need them once in your life. Thankfully, my one time was for the flood and a car crash. Fire people always come to the rescue first before anyone else.
Thank you for the lovely post about local volunteer fire fighters.
Some of my best childhood memories are of going to the summer fire parades in our local communities (when they were VERY small in our lower Putnam / upper Westchester counties) and even more so, the carnivals after. How else did young kids then figure out something can be thrilling and scary and exciting and nauseating all at once? but worth another ride!
Jon. I see what Erika is talking about. I just tried to write on Marias blog and this came up
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Yes, the software glitch, thanks for sharing it. It hasn’t happened on my blog
Jon…
Many years ago, when we moved into the Houston, TX area, our neighborhood was not incorporated in the city of Houston. For fire services, we had a volunteer fire department. But they were so highly regarded that, after our area became part of Houston, the volunteer fire department continued operating through local donations.
Houston is the largest city in the United States by total area, whose government is not consolidated under a single entity. But Houston had a habit of growing through annexation, without immediate attention to expanding city services. Our volunteer fire department got us through that service gap.
Fast forward to today: In our elderly-populated Arizona neighborhood, our local fire department is heavily trained for EMT services. One report stated that 95% of fire department calls were for medical assistance.
Jon,
I didn’t Storm out of the door.. I am too old to tip toe around your particular sensitivities. I was deeply hurt, Maybe unnecessarily, by Maria’s response..
As I said I wish you both well, but I cannot continue to reveal myself on your two blogs.
Good, Erika, let’s move on. You did say you would never read our blogs again. Maria did not send you that note, this is not about my sensitivities. It’s not about me at all. I can’t imagine any reason Maria would send anyone a message like that, under any circumstances.
It seems now that there is a software glitch caused by the ongoing work on her blog design. They know about it and thought it was fixed, it will be fixed quickly. It did not affect most people, but it has to do with one computer talking to another. In any case, it should be resolved by tomorrow. If you wish to communicate with Maria you can e-mail her at [email protected] Best, jon
Proud of my husband as Sheridan County fire warden, coordinating 6 volunteer fire departments. You can count on them, in any weather at any time of the night and day
Say hi to him Janette, they are heroes and much appreciated..