Become a member of Plainfield Fire-EMS
The Plainfield Volunteer Fire/EMS Department (PVFD) was established in 1953. That was 70 years ago. What happened before then? We hired the Cummington Volunteer Fire Dept. to fight our fires, or we tried to fight them ourselves with neighbors’ help when available. Usually with poor results.
The town has grown, actually tripled in population from the 1950’s. In 1973, Plainfield purchased its first new firetruck, a 1973 Ford with a 1000 ga. water tank and a front end 750gpm Hale pump. As the town grew, so did the volunteer fire department, topping out at 25 firefighters in the early 1980’s. Now the Commonwealth requires all those wanting to become career, call or volunteer firefighters to have a minimum 1 st Responder(advanced first aid) as well as CPR/Defibrillation certification training in advance. They left fire and HazMat training requirements to the individual departments. Fires have changed over the past 30 years. Due to the amount of plastic and flammable material now in our homes, fires now burn much quicker and hotter than ever before. This creates toxic environments quickly for those caught in a fire as well as those responding to put the fire out. Over the past 30 years, though the town continues to grow; the fire department roster moves up and down.
This is where you come in…due to retirement of the valuable experienced roster members recently, we have a few openings for membership right now. Our current roster, now at 18 members, includes men and women from the age of 18 to 77. You will be trained in both fighting fires and emergency medical response. As you know, you live in a rural hilltown that presents ongoing challenges in responding to the incidents we are called out to. Limited fire hydrants, dirt roads, long driveways, etc. all complicate our responses. Our work is dangerous, sometimes life threatening, but essential to the protection of our homes and town. It’s hard work, both the needed training and incidents we deal with. At the same time, it is highly rewarding and satisfying. You are part of a team that is potentially saving property and lives. Yes, I agree, it's not for everyone, but if not you, who else? Last night, I attended the Annual Town Caucus. It was a great turnout and I saw many women and men in attendance that could also be a Plainfield firefighter and 1 st responder. Most PVFD members are like you, have kids or grandchildren, work one or two jobs, have a house and property to take care of; but still find time to volunteer as a Firefighter/1 st responder for our town.
Interested? Need more information? We meet most Thursday evenings at the Dennis A. Thatcher Public Safety Complex at 38 North Central St. at 7pm. Stop in, take a tour, talk to those in the department. Or call me directly 413-634-5470.
David Alvord
Fire Chief/EMT-B
PVFD