A Month In The Life Of A Volunteer

Emy Keeling is a volunteer firefighter and EMT. She has been a member since 2017.

I have been a volunteer firefighter with West Routt since 2017 and have 6 years of volunteer fire experience from another department. I work full-time for Routt County government in Steamboat Springs and enjoy living outside of the Town of Hayden.

While I enjoy my job with Routt County, volunteer firefighting and EMS is my passion. I have been fortunate to be given skills and experience in the past and now I can return these gifts by serving the community. I also enjoy the teamwork and camaraderie that is found on a volunteer fire department and West Routt Fire has no shortage of these qualities.

It is important to me to maintain physical and mental fitness as a member of West Routt Fire. My goal each month is to exercise at least 5 hours/week. I exercise in order to be a good team-member and to move better on emergency scenes. I also aim to make every training each month; 6 hours of fire training and 3 hours of EMS training. Training is critical to keeping my mind sharp and being confident to handle different situations.

The nine hours of training I just referenced is not enough for me to keep up on everything. I make a point of spending 8 - 12 hours (one weekend day)/month at the fire station. During this time, I complete a truck or ambulance check (familiarization with my equipment) and build relationships with other members.

Oh, and then there are the calls. On average, I run about 3 calls per month. In my mind, routine medical calls take 3 hours, routine fire calls may take less than an hour, and other major events will take 3 to 12 hours. Calls vary widely from month to month so the time commitment varies with the calls. Some months take a lot more time than others.

In summary, I would estimate that I give about 25 hours per month to West Routt Fire. Sometimes it is more and sometimes it is less. While life can get complicated with this time commitment on top of my regular job, I would not trade the experience for anything else.