In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, Paul Cummings sits down with Chad Fraser, Chief of the Hemlock Fire Department in New York, for one of the most honest and emotional conversations yet.

This is not a hypothetical discussion about the volunteer shortage. This is what it looks like when it becomes real.

Hemlock Fire Department is facing the end of its fire district as the community has known it. After years of declining membership, limited daytime response, and the same few people carrying more and more of the load, the department is now working toward consolidation with Livonia.

For Chad, this is deeply personal. His journey into the fire service began after his own family lost their home to a fire in 2005. He saw the way local firefighters showed up for his family, and that moment led him to spend the next 15 years serving others. Over that time, he became an officer, chief, and one of the people trying to keep Hemlock going when there simply were not enough volunteers left to answer every call.

Paul and Chad talk about rural response challenges, mutual aid, aging memberships, changing communities, travel sports, COVID, training requirements, and what happens when people assume the firehouse will always be there.

But at the heart of this episode is something bigger than numbers. It is about family. It is about grief. It is about a firehouse trying to face reality with dignity.

And it is about the warning every small town should hear before it is too late.

If your town is protected by volunteers, this is a conversation worth hearing.

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, Paul sits down with Brian Gay, a firefighter from Reeder, West Virginia, where the reality of the volunteer fire service crisis is impossible to ignore.

Reeder is a small town of about 350 people. Their fire department has three members.

Three.

And there are calls where Brian leaves the station by himself.

This conversation puts real numbers, real consequences, and a real human face behind the recruitment crisis facing volunteer fire departments across the country. Brian talks about what it means to serve in a rural community where mutual aid may be limited, response times can stretch dangerously long, and the future of the local fire department is uncertain.

But this episode is not just about staffing. It is about responsibility. It is about community. It is about the weight carried by the few people who continue to answer the call, even when they know they may be going alone.

Brian also shares the personal experiences that shaped his commitment to serving others, including the kind of loss and hardship that would stop many people in their tracks. Instead, he continues to show up because he knows what it feels like to need help, and he does not want another family to face that pain alone.

This is one of the most sobering conversations of the season. It is not just a story about one small department in West Virginia. It is a warning about what happens when the volunteer fire service is stretched too thin for too long.

Because when the tones drop, the question is not whether the firehouse has a truck.

The question is whether there is anyone left to answer.

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.

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, I sit down with Dustin Cleveland of the Monetta Fire Department in Monetta for a conversation that gets to the core of why people continue to show up.

From the outside, it’s easy to assume that volunteering takes more time than most people can give. It’s one of the most common reasons people never walk through the door. But as Dustin shares, that perception isn’t always the reality.

We talk about what life actually looks like inside a volunteer fire department. The balance between family, work, and the unpredictability of the pager. The calls that stay with you. The trade-offs that don’t always get talked about. And the moment when something that starts out as personal interest turns into a responsibility to the people around you.

Dustin opens up about the realities of serving in a small, rural community, where you’re not responding to strangers, you’re responding to neighbors. He shares what it was like stepping away from the fire service and what it took to walk back through the door years later. And maybe most importantly, he speaks to the idea that this role is a commitment, but not an obligation. Something you fit into your life, not something that takes it over.

This episode isn’t about tactics or training. It’s about perspective. About breaking down the barriers that keep good people from ever taking that first step. And about understanding that sometimes, the hardest part of all of this… is simply walking through the door.

If you’ve ever thought about volunteering, or wondered what keeps people coming back to something that asks so much of them, this conversation is a good place to start.

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, I sit down with someone who’s been on this journey right alongside me since the early 2000s, Josh Finn.

What started for Josh as a simple introduction through a friend quickly turned into something much deeper. Like a lot of us, there wasn’t one defining moment that pulled him in. It was the experience. The people. The calls. And over time, it became part of who he is.

We talk about what the fire service looked like when we first got in versus what it looks like now. The difference is staggering. Fewer people. More calls. More pressure. And a growing reality that the system so many communities rely on is being stretched thinner than ever before.

Josh brings an honest perspective from the other side of the county, where the challenges look a little different, but the core issue remains the same. The same small group of people continues to carry the load, and the question keeps getting louder. What happens when they can’t anymore?

But this conversation isn’t just about the problem. It’s about why people stay.

Josh shares stories that most people will never experience. From once-in-a-lifetime rescues to the quiet moments that never make the news, it’s a reminder of what this job actually gives back. Not in money, but in purpose, perspective, and meaning.

We also get into what people misunderstand about volunteering. It’s not just the calls. It’s the time, the sacrifice, the mental weight, and everything in between. The part nobody sees.

And maybe most importantly, we talk about how to bring people in. Not by overwhelming them, but by giving them a real shot to experience it. Because once you feel it, once you truly understand what it means to make a difference in someone’s worst moment, it’s hard to walk away from.

This one hits close to home. Two guys who came up in it together, now looking at where things stand and what it’s going to take to keep it going.

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t just about the fire service.

It’s about the people willing to show up when it matters most.

Most people say they volunteer to help people. And that’s true.

But if you’ve ever been around the fire service long enough… you know that answer doesn’t fully explain why some people keep showing up year after year, no matter what life throws at them.

In this episode, I sit down with Kenton Holbrook, Assistant Chief with Nicholas County Fire in Carlisle, Kentucky. What started as a simple conversation turned into something much deeper.

Kenton doesn’t talk about this like it’s a hobby. He doesn’t frame it around convenience or spare time. For him, it’s something much more rooted.

He calls it his calling.

And when you hear him talk about his life, you start to understand why. Kenton wears a lot of hats. He works full-time, pastors two churches, serves in emergency management, and is deeply involved in his community. There’s no extra space in his schedule. No easy openings.

And still… when he’s needed, he goes.

This conversation goes beyond the surface of the fire service and into the mindset behind it. We talk about what it really means to be a volunteer, the reality of balancing life and responsibility, and why this isn’t just something people do… it’s something they become.

You’ll also hear parts of Kenton’s personal story that bring a level of perspective you don’t expect, but won’t forget. The kind of perspective that forces you to stop and think about what truly matters, and what it means to keep showing up for others even when life is already asking a lot from you.

This episode isn’t about tactics, gear, or calls. It’s about purpose. It’s about identity. And it’s about the kind of people who quietly make the decision, over and over again, to be there when it counts.

If you’ve ever wondered what really drives someone to live this way… this conversation answers that. If this hits home, share it with someone, whether they’re in the fire service, used to be, or have never stepped foot in a firehouse.

Because the future of the volunteer fire service depends on more people understanding what this is really about.