And the whistle blew

This year, the plains portion of our country has had more than it’s fair share of fires. The entire state of Montana tried to burn all summer. I know of one volunteer fire department (White River, SD a community of 600) that received seven fire calls in one night a couple weeks ago. In honor of all firemen on this anniversary of 9-11-01, I wanted to emphasize the importance of volunteer firemen in rural America. I have some interesting facts about firemen in the United States from the National Volunteer Fire Council:

1,078,300 total firemen; 73% are volunteer

The number of volunteer firemen is declining by 10% annually

2 million fires are reported each year

Volunteer firemen save communities $36.8 billion annually

Each year fire kills more Americans than all other natural disasters combined

I was prompted to tribute these volunteer firemen today because this was sent to me last night, thanks Doug.

http://www.fdnylodd.com/BloodofHeroes.html

The most passionate fireman I know is Susan Littlefield from Columbus, NE. She is a farm broadcaster for Farm and Ranch Market Network. Check out her website.