Need Firefighter Input!

[4gr8kidz]

I was a firefighter for 5 years (before kids!) and my husband was for 10. I'm 3rd gen. with parents, brother all firefighters. Grandfather died in service to our small volunteer dept back in '73. Anyway, now that I can no longer be a firefighter,( we have 4 kids ages 5yrs to 9weeks old,) I just joined the ladies auxiliary of the small town we moved to last summer. We bought our 1st house and husband joined the department a few months ago. It's a very new auxilary and very small, about 15 members. I would like to be able to help this new auxiliary with being as supportive to our firefighters as possible. We are starting with some great fundraisers (Had our 1st pancake breakfast today!), and some fun community events, like Halloween party. But I'd like to know from the firefighters with experience in this stuff, what kinds of things do you need on working fires?? What kinds of things would you want your auxiliary to be doing for you?? what things are working in your department?? If I can't be on that fire scene, then gosh darn, I want to be able to do SOMETHING besides sit listening to the scanner going crazy!! Thanks! Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[FrFtr28]

What kinds of things do you need on working fires??
Water, Gatorade, Pop, Coffee, Hot Chocolate. Food is always good on those long fires, i.e. donuts, breakfast back at the station.

What kinds of things would you want your auxiliary to be doing for you??
Help with fundraising. We have an ice cream social where most of the ladies donate homemade cakes which we raffle off.

What things are working in your department??
The ice cream social is a big hit every year, most people look forward to it year after year.

Hope that was the kind of info you were looking for.

[tmurph1030]

We don't have an auxilary, we now have a Support group. Both men and women that assist us in just about every way. From the Fire ground to community events.. Our support group is trained to refill air bottles, wash hoses and other equipment, and can drive our command vehicles to bring us stuff we need at an incident.
Plus all the normal stuff like food and drinks.
They are great.

[Rayr49]

Our auxillary in addition to the other things mentioned hosts a KidCare ID event twice a year. Basically it's a program endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Polaroid to make up a "Passport for each child containing a picture, fingerprints, height and weight. The sheriff's department does the fingerprints and the finished "Passport" is given to the parents. Other community service organizations assist with the program. It is not a fundraiser as such but in provides a service to the community and gives everyone involved a chance to talk about/provide handouts on fire safety, Neighborhood Watch programs etc.


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Stay Safe
IACOJ