Committed to the department

Chief Jacob Johnson at Chuckatuck Volunteer Fire Department is proud to serve the community where he grew up.

Coming up, Johnson says, several of his friends were very active in the organization. He wanted to emulate that commitment, and he joined as a 29-year-old in 2008, as soon as his work schedule allowed it.

While a volunteer fire department’s main function is to respond to emergency calls, it also provides a familiar presence in small communities, Johnson says.

“A lot of times, you are responding to people you are familiar with, and a lot of times, it brings folks comfort when they see someone they know, versus a complete stranger,” he said.

Johnson also notes that the organizations provide opportunities for past and present members of communities to catch up with people they haven’t seen in a while, such as at Chuckatuck VFD’s fish fry fundraisers.

Members also serve one another by providing friendship and camaraderie, according to Johnson.

“It’s a really good group of guys,” he said, adding that with the numbers of such organizations diminishing, volunteers have come to Chuckatuck from places likes Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

“A lot of people spend a lot of time here, throughout the day and throughout the evening, and they become life-long friends.”

It’s a great place for young people to learn life lessons, Johnson said. “It gives them a place to hang out that’s better than bars and better than street corners, so to speak.”

Johnson can’t see himself ever leaving Chuckatuck VFD.

“I will be here as long as the department is around, whether it’s the chief or whatever role they decide,” he said.

Ahead and the curve

Capt. James Gray got started at Driver Volunteer Fire Department with a lot of encouragement from his brother.

“When he started volunteering, he would tell me, ‘You need to come try this; this is awesome,’” Gray recalled.

One Monday night, Gray and a friend dropped by the department building on Bennett’s Pasture Road to pick up Gray’s brother, after one of the monthly meetings.

“My brother looked at Chief Callis, and said, ‘My brother wants to join the department,’” Gray said

Before he knew it, he had completed an application. He started the Firefighter 1 and 2 classes the next day.

That was August 2009, and he’s never looked back.

“I like giving back to the community,” Gray said. “When the city staff go on a call, we are there to backfill the station for the other residents — we are ready and available.”

In 2013, Gray got a job as a staff firefighter with the city of Portsmouth. But he has stayed on at Driver, he said, to make sure the younger generations have the same opportunity he had to become experienced and qualified and to serve.

Before making captain this year, Gray was promoted to lieutenant in 2012. As well as the initial two firefighter courses — twice — he has completed the operations and awareness-level Hazmat course — also twice — and the Instructor 1 course.

He has completed the basic EMT class twice, and is also certified in EMT with the state of Virginia at the advanced level.

“Continuing education in the fire service is never-ending,” Gray said. “There is always room for more knowledge.”

Gray said his day-to-day duties at captain at Driver VFD include maintaining a safe environment, ensuring the members are all on the same page, and encouraging members’ participation in community and fundraising events, like the fish fry.

35 years and counting

After starting with the Driver Volunteer Fire Department, Mark Ellis, chief of Holland Volunteer Fire Department, has been a volunteer firefighter for 35 years.

He moved to the Holland area in about 1991 and joined Carrsville Volunteer Fire Department.

“I was there for 10 years or more,” Ellis said. “At one point, I made a decision to come back into the city of Suffolk and serve there.”

That was a decade ago, Ellis said, and he’s been the chief for eight years.

“I had quite a few friends who were members of Driver Volunteer Fire Department,” he said of what got him started, adding that friends were also staff firefighters with the city, while his uncle was a dispatcher.

Volunteer fire departments, he said, are good places to learn new skills and serve the community, especially for young people. “It benefits the community, and it can also turn into a career opportunity,” he said.

Volunteers learn not only firefighting, but emergency medical services skills as well, Ellis said. “I think we have seven or eight EMTs in our department,” he added.

Ellis, who works for VDOT, said being chief is almost like a second full-time job. “Yesterday I had to stop by the station to roll up some hose,” he said. “There’s always something that has to be done.”

His position involves constant paperwork, he said, but ensuring the volunteers under him have the necessary training is the biggest thing.

Ellis teaches Firefighter 1, Firefighter 2 and emergency vehicle operator courses, for some surrounding volunteer fire departments as well as his own, and he’s an adjunct instructor with Paul D. Camp Community College.

Ellis said he considered retiring from the department this year, but, looking toward Holland VFD’s 75th anniversary next year, he decided to stay.

Supporting the community

Charles “Chuck” Brothers, chief of Whaleyville Fire Department, was 15 or 16 when he joined in 1981.

“There were no rule books then, so far as age limits,” he said.

His father being the chief, he said, he got more exposure to the workings of the department early on than most other members.

The department was moving from Mill Lane to its present location on Whaleyville Boulevard, about half a mile away, and Brothers recalls a bit of heavy lifting.

Assistant Chief Robert Lee Vaughan had the right idea, though. Brothers said he hooked together the deep fryers for the fish fry fundraisers, hauling them up the sidewalk in tandem.

Back then, the department was more immersed in the Whaleyville community than it is today, said Brothers, born and raised in Mineral Spring Road. He remembers a neighbor running across the field to the department when the siren up on the roof sounded.

Brothers was promoted to lieutenant in about 1986. His dad stepped down that same year, and from that point, he said, he meandered along until 2001, when another change occurred and Brothers was voted in as chief.

The department was once Whaleyville’s backbone, Brothers says, adding it’s where the community gathered to support each other in times of need.

“In today’s world, the volunteer fire department still has the same role we have always had, but somewhat different, because of the city we operate in today,” he said.

But, he added, it remains a great place for young people to be mentored and cultivated into leadership positions and roles that require a degree of responsibility.

“We have been pretty successful with that over the past few years,” he said.