"Odd Hours, No Pay, Cool Hat." That's a new film that honors volunteer firefighters. It premiered over the weekend at Deere and Company world headquarters in Moline.
The goal is to encourage more people to volunteer. Jacob Smith is a "product dissolve specialist" at John Deere in Silvis. He also volunteers for the Hillsdale and Coal Valley fire departments. And Jacobs is featured in the film.
"If I don't answer the call, who's going to do it? So when someone calls 911 they don't care who comes, they just expect that somebody is coming and I guess that should be me."
His fire department is also feeling the effects of the firefighter shortage. Smith says an important part of his mission is to attract more volunteers. "We don't have a lot of people knocking on the doors to volunteer."