Can you still be a volunteer fire fighter while on active duty?

A a former volunteer firefighter the fire dept understood that ones job came first so if you had to leave the scene for your job that was understood, so you got a relief and just left to go to work. That's the very definition of "volunteer". If you know you have to report at a certain time to base, and there's a call within a half hour of your time to leave, you will have to use some mature restraint and not respond to the call, or respond long enough to get a truck to the scene, set up, then turn it over to a later responding firefighter and leave so you can get to your reporting location in time. In your case, working for the military, being at work will always take priority over volunteer firefighting. On another note, enjoy being a volunteer. Fire departments need young, interested, trained volunteers, and it's more and more difficult to get people to join due to the time and cost commitment, as well as legal restraints. It's more difficult and risky than it was when I was in from 1978 to 1990, but I don't regret that time. It was one of the most life changing things I've ever done and I learned so much about myself that prepared me for hard times ahead.

I totally agree with this statement. When I was a volunteer it was years ago, like in the olden days (we had horses and used fire buckets!). Not really, but it was far different than today. They were just beginning to require the certifications they require today, so the first certification, and only one REQUIRED was that we were EMTs, and that was as a volunteer firefighter. I started in 1978 and was one until 1990 and was strictly volunteer. I was an EMT, and they were beginning to offer certifications of EMT IV; Firefighter I & II, Driver and HazMat. I had taken courses, but none were really official certifications, they were weekend courses given by fire academies or technical colleges in the area covering topics like driving, entrapment, farm equipment rescue, haz mat, liquid natural gas, factory machine rescue, water rescue, train rescue, high rise and underground rescue, interior firefighting, tobacco barn fires, you know stuff that was pertinent to our area.

In the late 80s, with the onset of HIV things started changing drastically in volunteer departments in our area (Greensboro NC) because we were a support service to County EMS. Since then the County Fire Service has become much more professional, and although many departments are still a combination of volunteer/paid firefighters, the volunteer departments are slowly being pushed out by the growing city departments as the cities expand their area through annexation. There are still volunteer departments, but I don't think any are left that are all volunteer (one may still be, but I'm not sure, I think all have at least one paid position).

So the questions to ask if you want to be a volunteer while being a Marine -
- Do the Marines allow it while on active duty? Check to be sure you are allowed to be a volunteer while on active duty. There was a time while I worked for the County Fire Marshal's Office that there was a question as to whether or not we were allowed to be volunteer firefighters for departments in the County. You can imagine, as young firefighters, we weren't happy with that idea, so basically told them we didn't give a flying flip, and eventually they came to their senses. But it had to do with Federal laws regarding overtime pay and crap like that, whether we cared or not. So just be sure the USMC doesn't care.
- Is the Vol. FD ok with it? Do they understand that when the USMC says show up, you have to go? When I was on a call, and the FMO office said I had to go to work, I had to go to work, cause real work came first. Most of the time the FMO kind of, usually, gave me a pass, but I wasn't an Inspector, and this was back in the day, so I wasn't one of the "guys" so my boss wanted me in the classroom teaching little kids, not out fighting a fire, rescuing someone in a car or birthing babies, even though that was cool with the teachers and kids at schools (I taught fire education to first and fifth graders in the County School System). So every time work came first, VOLUNTEER fire department came second. But with most employers, the firefighting/rescue was a legit excuse for being late or a no show as long as you were actively on scene, not an excuse was "I was up all night and went home to sleep after."
- Do you have the time and energy to do this? You might work all day, get home to do home stuff, go to bed and half hour later be up going to a fire/rescue for several hours in adverse weather conditions, get home to shower, sleep 30 minutes, go to work all day, repeat. Several days of this is wearing. Can you give your best to your job, family, fire department over a period of time?
- FAMILY has to be factored in. Divorce happens in the military because of loss of family time. Volunteer firefighting takes away from family time. Training, time on scene, cleaning up at the station, time at the station doing maintenance and parking lot time takes away from your family. You will be on calls during the time that affects your time that is vitally important to your family - holidays, birthdays, school events, major family discussions, illness, family events - the excuse of helping your community doesn't cut it with kids and spouses 20 years later when you miss every critical life event.
- Do you have the study time to learn what you need to know? Volunteer firefighters are now required to know everything that paid firefighters are required to know, they just aren't paid. They must understand all aspects of HazMat, collapse, HighRise and trench rescue, HIV and blood borne pathogens, chemical spills, water rescue, etc. Training is complex, requires hours each month and the legal aspects are tremendous, causing many to be concerned as government agencies pull away from backing employees in lawsuits.
- Do you have the right motivation? It's not about driving a cool big truck emergency traffic down the road so you can rescue people. It is about teaching people to plan before and help themselves during an emergency, and then get there to assist them for the best possible outcome. It's not about being a hero, it's about providing the best resources available during the worst event in a person's life so they have the best shot of a good outcome. It's not about you, it's about them. As a Marine, you get that.

There's a lot to consider, change your mind, readjust to make things work. Volunteer fire departments need firefighters and rescue personnel badly to support their communities, as these people make up the majority of protection in the US v paid service providers. It's an amazing experience, honestly, and one I'd suggest that everyone try at sometime in their lives. I was NOT a person one would ever expect to be a volunteer firefighter. I wasn't athletic, brave, assertive, medically knowledgable. I moved from the city to a country area and lived next door to two volunteer fire fighters. The department needed more people during the day and I fit the need. I was in my 20s, available day time and had a car.

I learned lots fast, took medical classes, learned firefighting on the job, learned to find my way around by following dust trails and the glow of fire at night, and became a community member/Southern girl because I was willing to be one of them in a time of need. It's an experience that helped me grow up, become empathetic, understand death and people, understand loss and life, it helped me become compassionate and assertive and in some cases aggressive. Being a volunteer firefighter also taught me that I couldn't be a professional firefighter, because I didn't have the strength to do the job, I wouldn't want me coming to rescue me in a fire, in a high rise, in a trench; but if we were in the country and the alarm went off and there were only two people around to come to the wreck, then I'd want me to respond, because I knew what I was doing. You'll do really, really good.