This week is National Volunteer Week. Celebrated each year since 1974, this week is an opportunity to recognize those who serve their communities on a volunteer basis. This includes the hundreds of thousands of fire, EMS, and law enforcement volunteers across the country.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), 69 percent of the nation’s fire fighters were volunteers as recently as 2014. In addition, NFPA estimates that 85 percent of all fire departments in the country are all volunteer or mostly volunteer.

In the field of law enforcement, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) estimates that more than 2,180 law enforcement agencies across the country are utilizing volunteers. Also, according to an IACP report on volunteerism, there are more than 244,000 volunteers participating in activities ranging from checking the security of vacationing residents’ homes to assisting in solving cold cases.

FirstNet is proud to have several staff members who have served or are currently active volunteers in the public safety community, including:

• Zach Smith, FirstNet Emergency Management Specialist – Zach is an active volunteer firefighter/EMT and Hazmat Technician with the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department in Fairfax County, Virginia where he has served for 6 years. He has held multiple positions within the department and currently serves as the EMS Officer for the organization.
• Brian Kassa, FirstNet Director of Technology Planning and Development – In addition to being an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), an EMS dispatcher, and a firefighter for eight years, Brian is an active wilderness search and rescue volunteer with 18 years of service in Washington State and Texas.
• Jeff King, FirstNet Area Lead for Regions I-V – Jeff is an active, sworn law enforcement officer in the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department Reserve Corps. This is a nationally recognized volunteer law enforcement program, and its members must align to standards commensurate to career officer standards, including the full training requirements associated with the Metropolitan Police Academy. Jeff serves as a patrol officer in the First District and supports Patrol Support Team activities across the city for major events.
• Victoria Lee, FirstNet Consultation Advisor, Western Area – In addition to working at the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) for 17 years, Vicki is a former volunteer firefighter and EMT with the Williamsburg (VA) Volunteer Fire Department and the Burke Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department in Fairfax County, Virginia.
• Mike Varney, FirstNet Region 1 Lead – Mike has been a volunteer firefighter EMT since 1984 and is currently acting as the Health and Safety Officer with the Ellington Volunteer Fire Department. This is an all volunteer fire department in Tolland County, Connecticut serving a community of 16,000. Mike has held several ranks within the organization, including Chief from 2000-2014. In 2007 he was named the National Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year at the IAFC Fire Rescue International Conference.
• Jennifer Harder, FirstNet Senior Public Safety Technology Planner – Jennifer served as a volunteer with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue Team for 12 years, where she was Administrative Sergeant with the K9 Unit and a trainer/evaluator for the K9 teams. During her time with the SAR team, Jennifer estimates she participated in more than 100 searches and thousands of training hours.
• David Cook, FirstNet Region 2 Lead – David is an active volunteer fire fighter in East Greenbush, NY, where he was the former Chief of the Department and is currently a Commissioner. David has decades of volunteer experience, including as the Director of Public Safety for Rensselaer County, NY where he oversaw training for volunteer emergency responders. As an EMT volunteer, he has been credited with 2 CPR reversals.

To learn more about volunteer options with a local fire department or EMS rescue service, please visit the National Volunteer Fire Council website. NVFC recently launched the MakeMeAFirefighter.org recruitment campaign where the public can go to learn about volunteer firefighting and find a local volunteer opportunity. Additionally, departments can go to portal.nvfc.org to post their opportunities, download free recruitment materials, and track volunteers through the application process. The IACP’s Volunteers in Police Service (VPS) is a useful resource to find police law enforcement volunteer opportunities near your community. The FirstNet organization would like to thank all of the volunteer public safety personnel for your selfless dedication to serving and protecting our communities.