Where There's Smoke: Volunteer firefighting is high-adrenaline community serviceAuthor(s): JILL SCHACHNER CHANENSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 83, No. 1 (JANUARY 1997), pp. 84-85Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27839389 .

Accessed: 13/06/2014 00:14

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Bar Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ABA Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.135 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:14:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

OUT OF THE OFFICE

Where There's Smoke Volunteer firefighting is high-adrenaline community BY JILL SCHACHNER CHANEN

By the time the first engine company arrived at the three-story building outside Youngstown, Ohio, on a blustery winter night, the fire already had ravaged a first-floor antique shop and was spreading into the upstairs apartments.

Flanked by fellow firefighters from the Western Reserve Fire District, David C. Comstock Jr. trudged in side, faced with the unen viable task of beginning the search for victims.

Outside, the fire raged on, spreading faster than the six responding departments could extin guish the flames. Com stock, already on the sec ond floor, was unaware

that the fire was engulf ing the walls around him, and that the floor was about to collapse beneath his feet.

Then, in the hallway, flames appeared. He turned, only to see more.

Realizing that his exit was about to be cut off, he reacted with steely resolve. Wading through the smoke, he found a back exit and jumped from the second floor to the frozen ground?just before the building collapsed.

For Comstock, a prin cipal in the Youngstown law firm of Comstock, Springer & Wilson, the oc casional dance with death is just part of the job?and the attraction?of being a volunteer firefighter.

"The adrenaline rush you get by responding to a call is something you don't feel sitting behind a desk," admits Comstock, 34, who also is trained as an emergency medical technician. "I do this for the same reason that other people jump out of planes."

Comstock is not alone. Nearly

Jill Schachner Chanen writes regularly for the ABA Journal.

80 percent of the nation's firehous es are staffed in whole or in part by volunteers, says Peter Beering, 36, general counsel for the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety and a

captain in the Washington Town ship (Ind.) Fire Department.

Only a small percentage of the nation's volunteer firefighters .are lawyers, of course. Beering believes

that the time required to maintain certification?he spends 100 hours a year in continuing education for his volunteer fire department work ?is a deterrent to many time strapped lawyers. But he relishes the 19 years he has spent as a vol unteer firefighter and arson inves tigator in Indianapolis.

"Firefighting is one of the very few activities where you have es

sentially agreed to lay down your

life for someone else," Beering says. "The bond that has formed among firefighters who are thrust into life threatening situations is the high est level of trust one can place in another human being."

Comstock laments the dearth of lawyer participation in the vol unteer firefighting force. "Unfortu nately, my experience is that most

people in white-collar professions don't think about firefighting. When they think about community ser vice, they look to boards.

"It's unfortunate," he adds, "because with their background, lawyers can provide a lot of insight to the fire service."

Comstock's firefighting has proved to be an unintentional boon to his practice. An insurance de fense lawyer, he finds his training

-r-,

-. * ... *

- - *V

*m

r,.L.

O'Youngson blslwe and 4-yer voatee fir

oT 6

X. .T Z

AIC

84 ABA JOURNAL / JANUARY 1997 ABAJ PHOTOS BY BRUCE PAIMER

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.135 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:14:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

invaluable in defending the first party fraud claims he handles, many of which are arson-related.

But, like the handful of other lawyers found in service, Comstock

was a firefighter first. He joined a department 14 years ago during college at the urging of a co-worker.

When he became a lawyer, he found his volunteer service to be a

much needed outlet. "Firefighting is

really labor intensive, and you have immediate results," Comstock ex plains. "You get a much different feeling helping people as a firefighter than you do as a lawyer."

While movies and television still portray the fraternal bond among firefighters being formed in cramped bunkhouses and over hearty dinners, today's volunteers do not stay in firehouses while on call. Instead, they are notified via pager, allow ing them to maintain some semblance of order in their personal and

professional lives. The pager system also has en

couraged women to volunteer for the fire service. The exact number of women volunteers is unknown, says Therese Floren of the Madison, Wis. based Women in the Fire Service, a not-for-profit support organization. Floren estimates that as many as 45,000 women are serving in volun teer departments across the country.

"Firefighting is not the type of

thing that many women would do," admits Sue Schilling, a solo practi tioner from Syosset, N.Y., who has been a member of her local depart ment for 13 years. "It's a traditional male type of activity, and not many women have an interest in jumping on fire trucks in the middle of the night."

The first woman to join her de partment, Schilling, 43, says she was

Iafforded no special favors by virtue of her gender. Less than one month after joining, she "ate smoke" for the first time when a house caught fire as she returned from a training drill.

Though she now stays on the sidelines at most fires, helping command the fire team, Schilling still finds the chase to the scene a thrill. "Every time you get on a truck, you never know what is going to happen. When an event is broadcast over a pager system, you think,

Wow, this is going to be great: There's a car overturned.' Of

ten, by the time you get there, everyone is out of the car and is all right, and you are kind of disappointed.

"It's like going to court," Schilling says. "You never know what is going to happen

until you get there." LaFarge, Wis., lawyer Philip

Stittleburg, 48, still chuckles when he recalls leaving a client at a real estate closing to help extinguish a house fire in the rural community of 750 where he lives and works.

The transaction had been par ticularly trying, and the client was anxious to close the deal. When his pager sounded, Stittleburg, chief of the LaFarge Fire Department since 1977, had no choice but to leave be hind his client and the closing.

He braced himself for a scold ing when he saw the client had fol lowed him to the fire. "I apologized for interrupting the closing," Stit tleburg remembered. But the client was in no mood for any apologies: It was his mother's house that was on fire, and he could not have been more grateful for the lawyer/fire fighter's unpaid help.

"There's not a whole lot of jobs anymore where after you get done people come up and shake your hand and say thank you," Stittle burg notes.

"It's a job with great instant gratification. That's neat. It's a good feeling."

Joining Up With he Fire Brigade

With more than 29,000 volunteer fire departments protecting property throughout the nation, there is plenty of opportunity for participating in the fire service.

Most volunteer fire departments serve suburbs and rural areas since large cities have paid, full-time fire departments, says Philip Stittleburg, chief of the LaFarge (Wis.) Fire Department and a principal in the law firm of Jenkins & Stittleburg.

Becoming a volunteer firefighter can be as easy as dropping by the local firehouse and completing an application. Each fire department has different requirements, depending on local custom and law.

In general, volunteer firefighters should be physically fit, be able to lift and carry heavy items, and have agility and coordination, says Peter Beering, a captain in the Washington Township (Ind.) Fire Department. Some departments may require applicants to pass a physical examination.

Time Is Prime 'The No. 1 requirement is a

willingness to commit time," Beering says, "It's significant, especially during the upfront training phases. It can take nine to 14 months to train new recruits."

Every state also has continuing education requirements for volunteer firefighters.

The second most important factor is availability, Beering says. Volunteer fire departments usually require members to serve a specified number of hours each month to maintain membership.

"Contact the local fire chief and find out the requirements," advises David C. Comstock Jr. of Comstock, Springer & Wilson in Youngstown, Ohio.

"Go down to the firehouse, find out when the volunteers meet, and see if it is something you are interested in before you put in the time and training."

1^

ABA JOURNAL / JANUARY 1997 85

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.135 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 00:14:11 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions