Rural communities rely on volunteer fire departments to be there when disaster shows its face. Many of those departments are finding it difficult to find volunteers to join their ranks and it’s proving to be an issue that can impact entire communities. On September 14, 10 different fire departments responded to a warehouse fire in Marshfield. However, it wasn’t the size of the fire that made calling so many departments necessary.
“A lot of it had to do with a lot of low availability,” said Hewitt Area Fire Chief Brian Hafermann. “So, it relied on more departments to get the job done.”
In Edgar, the volunteer fire department is making due with the change in times.