In this episode of Heart of the Volunteer, Paul sits down with Captain Brianna Pruitt of the Perkins Fire Department in Perkins, Oklahoma, for a raw and honest conversation about what keeps volunteers answering the call.

Brianna’s story starts with family, service, and a desire to help people. From growing up around public service, serving in the military, dispatching, and eventually becoming a captain in the fire service, her life has continued to point back to one thing: showing up when people need help most.

Together, Paul and Brianna talk about the reality of today’s volunteer fire service. Perkins Fire Department runs hundreds of calls a year, with EMS making up the majority of their responses, while still facing the same challenge departments across the country are dealing with: limited time, limited manpower, and a small group of dedicated people carrying a heavy load.

But this conversation goes deeper than numbers.

Brianna talks about why she still goes, even when she is tired, busy, raising a family, running a business, or being pulled in a dozen different directions. Her answer cuts right to the heart of the volunteer fire service: when someone calls 911, they need to know somebody is coming.

She also opens up about one of the hardest calls of her life, a mass casualty incident involving children, and the moment she nearly walked away from the fire service altogether. Her honesty offers a powerful look at the emotional weight volunteers carry, the faith and strength it takes to continue, and the quiet commitment behind every response.

This episode is about service, sacrifice, family, trauma, faith, and the kind of people who keep showing up, even after the calls that almost break them.

Because to the people waiting for help, showing up is everything.

What if the system isn’t broken…but slowly wearing down?

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, I sit down with Dave Denniston — Director of Risk Management at McNeil & Company and First Vice President of the Association of FireDistricts of New York — for a conversation that gets real, fast.

Dave has spent nearly four decades in the fire service, starting back in 1989 in Cortlandville. He’s served as a firefighter, chief, commissioner, and county coordinator. Today, he sees the fire service from a different angle — one that spans departments across the state and beyond.

And what he’s seeing is something many of us are already feeling. More calls. Fewer people. More departmentsgetting dispatched just to accomplish what one used to handle.

From the outside, everything still looks fine. The trucks still show up. The job still gets done. But behind the scenes, the reality is shifting. We talk about what that actually looks like on the ground, from multiple activations just to get a crew together, to apparatus arriving with fewer firefighters than ever before.

We also dig into the bigger questions: Are we truly fixing the problem… or just managing the decline? Are we sending the right message when it comes to recruitment? Have our communities changed more than we’ve been willing to admit? And what happens if we don’t start adjusting, not years from now, but right now?

This isn’t a conversation about blame. It’s about honesty. Because the volunteer fire service has always been about people. People willing to step up, give their time, and be there when it matters most. That hasn’t gone anywhere. But the world around it has.

If you’re in the fire service, this episode will feel familiar. If you’re outside of it, this is a look into what’s really happening behind the scenes.

Either way, it’s a conversation worth having.

What happens after the call?

When the tones drop and the trucks return… when the radios go quiet… what’s left behind?

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, I sit down with firefighter and songwriter Paul Roberts, the voice behind When the Radios Go Silent. What started as a creative outlet has turned into something much deeper. Through music, Paul is finding a way to say the things many in the fire service carry but don’t always talk about.

We talk about his late start in the fire service, the call that changed him, and the reality of departments trying to do more with less. From rural stations responding with just a handful of members to the growing pressure on volunteers balancing jobs, family, and service, this conversation hits on the challenges we’re all seeing.

But this episode goes beyond the numbers.

Paul shares how his music became a form of therapy, not just for himself, but for others. Messages from firefighters and first responders who hear his songs and feel understood. The weight that doesn’t go away when the scene clears. The truth that even when the radios go silent, the call doesn’t always end in your mind.

We also get into the bigger picture… why fewer people are walking through the doors of firehouses across the country, what we might be getting wrong when it comes to telling our story, and what it really means to serve.

And in the middle of it all, a simple but powerful reminder:

“You get the honor and the privilege of helping people.”

If you’ve ever wondered what drives someone to keep showing up… or what it actually feels like to be on the other side of the call… this is a conversation worth hearing.