We’ll state that again…. WE NEED HELP. We need people who can drive large vehicles. We need people who are interested in becoming firefighters and/or EMTs. We need people who can or-ganize community events. We need people who care.

We exist solely because we choose to serve our community and we have a lot of fun doing it. We get training, protective gear, commu-nications equipment and a family-like atmosphere (OK, at times a dysfunctional family-like atmosphere) all for free. We get dirty, extremely hot, extremely cold, rained on, snowed on, sometimes vomited on, and can spend anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 or more hours on a call. We see, smell, hear and feel some things that no human being should have to experience. But through all of that, we get the deep personal satisfaction and pride of bringing some comfort and help to people at their worst times. Believe it or not, those feelings of satisfaction and pride make it all worth-while.

We’ve been neglecting our community events such as our annual Spring Fling, flea markets, and holiday parties due to the fact that there are just not enough of us to pull off those things. We all have lives too, and with the price of fuel and associated living expenses, responding to your emergencies is about all we can handle. We miss our events. We think you miss our events.

Your county fire department relies on volunteers to provide emergency services. There are over 400 volunteers county-wide. We have less than 10 of those. Your property values, insurance ratings and taxes are linked to the level of emergency services we are able to provide.

Think about that.

Some of our members are currently working on coming up with ideas and funding for incentive programs to help offset the cost of volunteering. We need help with that. We’re trying to revive all of our community events in the hope that if we have more of a community presence, the community will have more of an awareness of us. We would like to have enough qualified personnel to run the apparatus we currently have available.

If you can block out some time on Tuesday nights, stop by and meet us. Get a feel for who we are, give us a hand making sure our apparatus is working, talk to us about what we need. You may find that you possess a skill that could be of benefit to your community. You don’t have to become a firefighter or EMT to help.

Just help.

Tur qu ois e T r ail Vo lu n tee r Fi re Dep a rtme n t PO Bo x 102

Cer ril los NM 87010

ht tp :/ /www .t tv fd. co m/

What it’s REALLY like to Volunteer?

2

Our Calls 3

Christmas Party & Our 40th year of service

3

Inside this issue:

Special points of inter-est:

• Briefly highlight your

point of interest here.

• Briefly highlight your

point of interest here.

• Briefly highlight your

point of interest here.

• Briefly highlight your

point of interest here.

We Need Help

2006 Wild Hogs movie set.. TTVFD provided fire suppression for this explo-sion

Turquoise Trail Volunteer Fire Department

PO Box 102

Cerrillos, NM 87010

o, it’s Tuesday night and you say to yourself, “Self, I’m gonna go volunteer with Turquoise Trail”. And off you go to Station 3. What should you expect?

Well, you’ll meet with our Chief, get a red book with lots of old papers (we’ll get around to updating them) to read and fill out, and you’ll be taken around

to meet whoever happened to be there that night. You’ll be assigned a mentor, but in reality, the best thing to do is find someone who looks like they are doing something and tag along with them. Ask questions.

You’ll be a “probie” for 6 months. You’ll be expected to learn the apparatus; how to check them out, what equipment is on each one, how to use the equipment. At the end of 6 months you’ll be tested (it’s not a formal test, we’ll just ask you ques-tions about each vehicle). If you stick around for the 6 months, you’ll get protec-tive gear, a pager, a radio and you’ll be expected to respond.

One word of warning. We’re a fire department. We have a different mindset and a different collective personality from other people. If you get offended by bad lan-guage, raunchy and often sick humor, and smoke (both the cigarette and fire kind) you may not enjoy being around us. We’re professional on scenes, at the station we’re real. If you’re volunteering to help with events or office stuff, we promise to try to behave when you’re here.

You’ll find that your pager will go off at the most inconvenient times; 2am, middle of dinner, just as you step in the door after driving home from the station. We haven’t figured out a way to get people to call 911 when we’re all ready and wait-ing at the station. The calls will sometimes last hours. On others, we may be can-celled by units already on scene, just as you pull out of your driveway. Either way, you’re awake and usually hungry.

There’s always something that needs doing.

Volunteering for a fire department requires a serious commitment. It’s not some-thing you figure you’ll do in your spare time once in a while. Every Tuesday night we do something. Sometimes we’ll do things on a Saturday morning. If you’re in-terested in being trained in anything, a lot of the trainings are held over the week-end or on a different night.

Despite it all, there’s a great sense of pride and camaraderie both during and after the call.

It’s great exercise. It’s a great learning experience. It’s a great way to experience humanity. And besides, who doesn’t like riding around in a big ‘ole fire truck?

Come on down and meet us—we don’t bite :)

What it’s REALLY Like to Volunteer

“Playing with fire is bad for

those who burn themselves. For

the rest of us, it is a very great

pleasure.”

~ Author Unknown

Page 2 TTVFD Fa l l 2008

S

call 911 in an emergency

Our Calls

The Christmas Party is on!

“Firefighting—one of the

few professions left that

still makes house calls.”

~ Author Unknown

Page 3 TTVFD Fa l l 2008

Incident Type 2008 so far

Fires — Structure and vehicle 11

Brush fires 3

EMS calls— medical 100

Motor vehicle accidents 15

Dispatched and cancelled enroute 26

Stop by any Tuesday Stop by any Tuesday Stop by any Tuesday Stop by any Tuesday night at 7pm night at 7pm night at 7pm night at 7pm

Station 3—Hwy 14 across from San Marcos Feed

“It’s easy to make a buck.

It’s a lot tougher to make

a difference.”

~ Tom Brokaw

et ready for Santa! 13 December 2008 from 11am to 2pm is our annual Christmas Party. Bring your family, friends and come down for a good time. Santa will arrive in style.

Help us celebrate the holidays!

Come next spring, Turquoise Trail Volunteer Fire Department will be 40 years old. Hard to believe… Help us celebrate our years this spring. More information will be in our spring newsletter.

In the meantime, if you can help us organize this event, PLEASE give us a ring or an email… 25@ttvfd.com. Honestly, we could really use some help pulling off this very special event.

G

Our 40th Birthday is coming!

Turquoise Trail Volunteer Fire Department PO Box 102 Cerrillos NM 87010 http://www.ttvfd.com/

Non Profit Org.

US Postage

PAIDPAIDPAIDPAID Santa Fe, NM

Permit No. 739