WHAT IS A VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT?

All firefighters risk their lives. All of them work in burning heat and bone-chilling cold. And all of them make sacrifices for their jobs.

But some don't get money for it.

That's the big difference between rural volunteer fire departments and paid departments in cities.

There are other differences, too, and many aren't understood by people living in the volunteer districts. Ken Sauerbrunn, assistant chief of the Fruitland Area Volunteer Fire Department, said some people think there are firemen sitting in the two Fruitland stations at all times.

That isn't so. Volunteer firefighters only go to the stations for three reasons: to get firefighting equipment, to do maintenance work and to train. Otherwise, they're working at day jobs or doing things with their families.

In rural Cape Girardeau County, 911 emergency calls go into the Sheriff's Department. Dispatchers there determine which fire district should respond to the call and radio the firefighters in that district.

Each volunteer department has a plan detailing who goes to the station to pick up equipment. Others meet the fire trucks at the scene.

Depending on how far away the volunteers are from the station, how far away the fire is from the station, the amount of traffic on the road and weather conditions, it may take a few minutes to a half-hour for departments to respond.

According to the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, Whitewater Fire Protection District and Millersville Rural Fire District have the longest average response times of the volunteer departments -- 11.5 minutes each. Fruitland has the quickest time with 8 minutes.

Jackson and Cape Girardeau, the only two paid departments in the county, have average response times of 3.5 minutes.

"The most common complaint we have is `Why did it take you so long?'" Sauerbrunn, Fruitland's assistant chief, said. "People don't understand that we may have to go as far as 20 miles to get to their house.

"Of course, when your home is burning, a few minutes seem like forever."

Another difference between paid and volunteer fire departments is in the amount of training required. Max Jauch, assistant fire chief in Cape Girardeau, said all firefighters in the city eventually must reach the Firefighter II certification -- the highest one possible -- set by the state fire marshal.

That requires several hours of training and passage of written and practical tests.

Each volunteer fire department sets its own training requirements. At the Fruitland department, all but a few firefighters have the Firefighter I certification. Their chief is regional fire training coordinator for departments in 13 Southeast Missouri counties.

But very few of the 32 people at East County Fire Protection District have any official certification, although they have in-house training about eight times each month, Chief Jim Hanks said.

Even Hanks himself doesn't have his certification from the state fire marshal, and he has been actively fighting fires since 1981.

"You may have a guy who deals with propane tanks who wants to be a volunteer," Hanks said. "He knows a little bit about fires, but if you want him to be a Firefighter I or Firefighter II, he may not want to go through that.

"But the knowledge he has may be valuable to your department, especially if you're on a scene that has propane gas."

The most important qualification for a volunteer firefighter is a willingness to help others, Fruitland Chief Marty Schuessler said.

"Any person willing to spend the time to educate himself and willing to give up time with his family can be a volunteer firefighter," he said. "When you're about to sit down to supper and the alarm goes off, you have to be willing to help someone who may be losing his life or his property.

"And you don't get any money whatsoever."