Nearly four years ago, the Vesta Volunteer Fire Department sat silent. Down to three volunteers and battling new state regulations, the station faced the possibility of extinction.
“You assume a lot of things with public service,” Vesta Fire Chief Wayne King said. “You assume that the fire department is here. You kind of take it for granted.”
Though he is now chief of Station 12, King was not a volunteer firefighter even four years ago. He, among the majority of the station’s current volunteers, were unaware the station needed help until Douglas Spencer spoke to the congregation of Vesta Baptist Church.
Douglas, along with his wife Nicole Spencer, were two of the remaining firefighters at the Vesta station. When the situation became dire, Douglas went to the church.
“These areas, the unincorporated areas of the county, they’re held together by churches,” Douglas said. “So, if you want to get community involvement, you’ve got to be involved with the church.”
The response was overwhelming.
A dozen members, including King and now assistant chief Michael Moravek, chose public service that night.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Moravek said. “I’ve been living here 25 years, and no one’s ever asked. I thought they didn’t need anyone else extra. So, as soon as they asked and came to the church, I immediately wanted to and knew I was going to do it.”
The once-grim station blossomed in the 3½ years since Spencer’s call to action. Handshakes, hugs and kind words flowed freely Saturday as the VFD hosted its annual barbecue fundraiser on the first day of deer gun season.
Camo sweatshirts and boots adorned people with smiling faces. Children’s laughs filled the air, selling sweets while their parents served the main course.
Family units make up the department, so much so that it is a “family” of its own, Nicole “Possum” Spencer said.
Douglas, now the county’s Emergency Management Agency director, and Nicole still serve the station, but they are joined by other husband and wife pairings. The Kings, Wayne and Jennifer, as well as the Moraveks, Michael, Dawn and Michael Jr., also volunteer.
“We’ve been fortunate that, knock on wood, we haven’t had a call yet to where somebody wasn’t able to come,” King said. “But like I said, we’ve got a good group of people.”
When a call is made to 911 about a fire in the Vesta district, the volunteers, as well as the two other nearest districts, will be notified. All Vesta volunteers are connected to the county’s emergency response system through radios, pagers and the IAmResponding mobile app.
King credits the proximity of the volunteers to the station with the group’s ability to respond quickly.
The Moraveks, both employees of the Department of Family and Child Services, live behind the station and work from home. King owns Enterprise Trucking Inc., and said he is often nearby on business. Other volunteers work at Smith Brother’s Pallets Inc. or the chicken farm down the road.
“Getting a number of people that live and work in the community is very helpful for (response time),” Douglas said.
Though all the volunteers have full-time jobs, Moravek is adamant that they are no less qualified.
“I don’t like the word volunteer,” he said. “When you think of a volunteer, you think that they’re not the same as a regular paid firefighter, but we do the same exact training that they do. We have the same certifications.”
All of the fire departments in Oglethorpe County are volunteer staffed, and 65% of all firefighters nationally are volunteers. The issue of staffing, like that Vesta faced, is not only a local problem.
Nationally, fire departments are struggling to come up with a staff equipped to act as the community’s first line of defense against everyday emergencies.
“It’s very very difficult to find new volunteers,” Douglas Spencer said. “The rules are not getting any easier, the money’s not getting any more.”
Training and certification requirements are more involved and strenuous than many anticipated.
“I was very surprised by the amount of training that we had to go through,” Moravek said. “Twelve weeks of training at night time, up in Elberton we trained. And then it’s a continuous training experience.”
Vesta’s volunteers meet at 7 p.m. every Thursday for various types of training sessions, many of which are led by Jonathan Doss, the station’s training officer.
Doss is a certified Firefighter 1 and was formerly a staff fireman in another county. Doss aspires for all of Vesta’s volunteers to eventually be Firefighter 1 certified.
As much has been done to grow and improve personnel has also been contributed to the physical station. Landscaping, a fresh coat of paint and signage all aim to create a welcoming environment. The station had LED lighting, air conditioning and air lines for the trucks’ air brakes, as well as added two firetrucks to the fleet.
“I just appreciate the people that we have here,” King said. “We’re here to serve the community and to be there for people in their time of need and hope that we can help them out.”