{"id":28600,"date":"2020-11-25T14:40:52","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T19:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=28600"},"modified":"2020-11-25T14:41:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T19:41:00","slug":"grant-program-helps-add-volunteers-for-fire-ems-but-more-are-still-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=28600","title":{"rendered":"Grant program helps add volunteers for fire\/EMS, but more are still needed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Paul Mattes<\/p><\/div>\n

A three-year, grant-funded effort to recruit volunteer firefighters for Chester County\u2019s 45 fire companies and 32 ambulance companies yielded over 300 prospective new volunteer submissions.<\/p>\n

Of those who responded are now volunteer firefighters or EMTs, while others are still in the process, said Neil Vaughn, Past President for the Chester County Fire Chiefs Association, which received a $381,000 FEMA grant to get out the message that more volunteers are urgently needed.<\/p>\n

The Association\u2019s comprehensive campaign, which came at no cost to Chester County taxpayers, included direct mail, social media, television commercials, social media, yard signs, community events, news stories, and the www.helpfightfire.com<\/a> website. All carried the elemental message that became the effort\u2019s slogan: Volunteer Today. Chester County Lives Depend On It. <\/em>\u201cWe were able to get the message out, and now new volunteers are helping their neighbors across the county,\u201d Vaughn said.<\/p>\n

Among those now answering the call: Glenmoore resident Paul Mattes.<\/p>\n

Mattes had always wanted to help his neighbors and long believed becoming a volunteer firefighter was the best way he could that.<\/p>\n

A Google sales executive, husband to Margie and dad to daughters Taylor and Haley, Mattes had promised himself for years that he would sign up just as soon as his life slowed down. Then one day he had a realization: His very busy life was not ever slowing down. \u201cI decided I just needed to do it anyway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On a January evening in 2018, he walked into the Ludwigs Corner Fire Company and has never looked back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that I love is the teamwork and the people that I get to volunteer with,\u201d Mattes\u00a0 said. \u201cWe are a 100 percent volunteer organization. Everyone is giving of their time and energy to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also loves the huge variety of the ways he helps people with this one volunteer profession. \u201cIt\u2019s so much more than just pointing a hose at a fire,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Mattes, who is 56, has worked on building fires, motor vehicle accidents and, as an EMT, assisted numerous sick and injured people. He\u2019s investigated carbon monoxide levels. His company did actually get a cat down from a roof, and he\u2019s helped get a dog up from out of a sewer pipe.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of my family, it\u2019s been the most rewarding thing I\u2019ve ever done. It\u2019s incredibly fulfilling, exciting, and exhilarating,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t believe I get to do this, quite honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ludwigs Corner and Chester County\u2019s other 44 volunteer fire and EMS companies need many more people like Mattes to volunteer, said Vaughn, the Chester County Fire Chiefs Association\u2019s Past President.<\/p>\n

Like the vast majority of Pennsylvania counties, Chester County relies largely on volunteer firefighters to protect its residents.\u00a0 But the volunteer roles in Pennsylvania have dropped precipitously since the 1970s. The essential work falls on fewer and fewer people. The recruitment campaign has been successful, but Chester County fire companies cannot rest on this success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always going to need volunteers,\u201d Vaughn said.\u00a0 The need for volunteers in all roles is also great, Vaughn said. People who take on administrative work, for example, are greatly appreciated, because that allows others to focus solely on firefighting , EMS or other emergency response facets.<\/p>\n

Absolutely no experience or prior knowledge of firefighting or emergency medical response is required, Vaughn stressed \u2013 fire companies provide training.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s another thing Mattes loves. \u201cI never stop learning, and to be a really good firefighter, you have to keep learning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of the most surprising lessons Mattes has learned is how easy it\u2019s been to fit firefighting into his busy life, especially once fire school is finished.<\/p>\n

No one is expected to respond to every emergency, he notes. Firefighters and EMTs go on vacation. They go to family events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have drills one evening a week,\u201d he said. \u201cI just watch a little less TV.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A three-year, grant-funded effort to recruit volunteer firefighters for Chester County\u2019s 45 fire companies and 32 ambulance companies yielded over 300 prospective new volunteer submissions. Of those who responded are now volunteer firefighters or EMTs, while others are still in the process, said Neil Vaughn, Past President for the Chester County Fire Chiefs Association, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20,311,3912,4441,10250,118],"class_list":["post-28600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-chester-county","tag-ems","tag-featured","tag-firefighters","tag-grant-program","tag-volunteers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28601,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28600\/revisions\/28601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}