If it’s Monday evening, chances are good that you will find members of the Gerald-Rosebud Fire Department at the firehouse. They use the time to clean and repair equipment, maintain the station and catch up on paperwork. 

This past Monday, training for some of the junior firefighters and a new recruit senior firefighter was underway. Trainers for the Junior program, Eddie and Hayden Schoenfeld were showing the young fireman the proper way to use a c-collar in emergency medical situations. 

Hayden is a paramedic and the department’s EMS officer. 

The department boasts seven youth in the junior program. 

There are currently seven recruit firefighters waiting to be accepted to the senior ranks. 

Captain Nick Via says the department has been extremely busy in the last several weeks. They have answered 23 calls in the first 13 days of September. There were 17 calls in all of August. 

The department hosted a fund-raising barbecue on Saturday Sept. 11 in Rosebud. Assistant Chief Jackson Clark says they made well over $2,000 in sales and donations. It won’t take long to spend those funds on equipment and training. While you always find a bunch of firemen working at the station on Monday evenings, you will find them joking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. It is clear they have created not just a department of essential, hard-working volunteers, but also a family. 

None of the members receive any income from the work with the department other than a small mileage stipend at the end of the year. 

They do the grueling work of firefighters out of a sense of duty and pride. This group also spends almost as much time on community projects as they do fighting fires. 

Gerald and Rosebud are fortunate to have such a dedicated group of volunteers.