Community Corner

Volunteer Spotlight: Jim Morrison

Pearl River Hook and Ladder firefighter.

Volunteer Name: Jim Morrison

Organization: Pearl River Hook and Ladder

Jim Morrison has been serving the Pearl River community as a firefighter since he walked into the doors of the Pearl River Hook and Ladder in November of 1993.  Serving as a firefighter is a Morrison family tradition; it is one which he has dedicated himself to for the past 17 years.  Today, he continues to serve his community in his second consecutive year as first lieutenant.

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Why did you first become a firefighter?

It’s a family thing, my father’s a fireman, my brother’s a fireman, so I just followed suit basically. 

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What is it about being a firefighter that keeps you doing it?

It’s an industry that changes every day.  Your day can be a regular, nothing-going-on day, and then, all of a sudden, something happens and the excitement starts.  We don’t find joy in people losing their property and that kind of thing, but it’s a little bit of an adrenaline rush for us to be able to show off what we can do to the community.

We do train a lot here, so when we’re able to go out and do whatever we’ve got to do, it’s a good way for us to show the community that we are into it and we’re not just a bunch of guys that just hang out and do nothing.  This organization is probably the best-trained organization in the county.  We go to the training center a lot.  At least once or twice a month, we go up there and train, so we’ve been told that we’re the best ladder company in this county and we try to do that every time we go out the door. 

In what way has being a firefighter benefited you?

Personally, it helped me out with my job, I’m a fire dispatcher for the fire department in New York City.  It definitely trained me for that, it’s given me some lifelong friends and that kind of thing, and it’s given me some things that most people can’t do in their life, but other than that, I haven’t really taken anything from this.  This is just a way to give back to my community and my people.  I’ve got a lot of friends in this town and I’m ready to help them any minute of the day, so it’s beneficial to the people of the town, but as for myself, it’s really not that beneficial on an regular day basis.  I do everything for them and worry about myself after.

What’s the best thing about being a firefighter?

I guess it’s the community, being there for the community and doing the right thing for the community.  That’s probably the best thing--helping people out.  I’ve been doing this since I was sixteen, so it’s something I try to do everyday and I guess that’s probably the most beneficial thing I get out of this.  Helping people out, that’s what I like to do. 

What do you think it is about you personally that makes you want to be a firefighter?

I think it takes a certain type of person to do this thing.  I’m not sure what the actual characteristics are.  We have all different personalities but we’re all here for the same reason, everyone says the same thing, they want to help the community out.  To pinpoint one thing that everybody has, I couldn’t tell you.  You have a smorgasbord basically of people here and everybody here is here for the same reason.  I don’t know exactly what we’re all into and what we’re all about, but for some reason, we all want to do the same thing here.  Like I said, it takes a different type of person, I guess, to do this type of thing.

What positions have you held within the department?

I’m the first lieutenant right now and I was the first lieutenant in 2001, 2002.  So I’ve been first lieutenant twice, I’ve been the last, which is the third lieutenant, twice.  That’s pretty much it, just been a line officer. 

Within those roles, what duties have you performed? 

Anytime there’s a fire, we’re in charge.  So I’ve been in charge of fires, that kind of thing, we train the young guys, like we’re doing tonight, at drill.  There’s a ton of stuff we do, behind the scenes stuff, just to make this organization work, to make things run and to get these guys on the right track.

We’ve got a lot of new guys, we’ve probably got about 20 new guys that we’re trying to get through and make into regular firemen.  It’s tough, but we’re getting them through it.  But the training and the going to fires is mostly what we do here, the lieutenants and stuff.  Ordering equipment and that kind of stuff, we go through too.

What would be your primary responsibility on a call currently? 

My job is to lead the men, so I’ve got to make split-second decisions basically that will either make or break us.  All the responsibility pretty much falls on my shoulders, or whoever the officer is shoulders.  Unfortunately, you’ve got young men who are members here, so your making the split second decisions for them and for you, to do the right job and get the fire out.  A lot of things have changed in the last ten to fifteen years and basically you’re trying to do whatever it is you’re supposed to do, and go home.  You want to go home at the end of the day.

Does your work interfere with being a volunteer here at all?

No, actually.  I’ve got a great schedule, so it allows me to be here as much as I can.  Whenever I’m home, if nothing’s going on, I’m basically around here.  So I try to put as much time in as I can here.  You have to when you’re in the lieutenant spot.  You’ve got to be able to devote a lot of time but it pays out in the long run.  You put a lot of time in, but everything gets done and the place runs better and everybody’s happy, that’s what it comes down to. 

How many hours do you have to put in for training to stay up to date? 

It depends.  I tell people every time they come to join here, what you put into it is what you get out.  So if you want to just do part of this or you don’t want to get into it, you just want to do half what you’re supposed to do, you’re not going to get anything out of it.  You’ve got to be dedicated.  To do the classes and that kind of thing, everything has changed over the years.  When I joined here, you only had to do seven weeks, two classes a week, so it was like thirteen classes and then you were ready to go.  You didn’t have to do all the stuff. 

A lot of laws have changed over the years, and it makes things a lot harder for the guy joining today.  They’ve got to put a lot of time in to get the classes and I thank god I joined when I did, because I got a lot of the stuff done real quick when I was young and I had really nothing to do.  I was eighteen and was doing not meaningful jobs, so I was able to take these classes and get them done and get them out of the way.

For the guy joining now, let’s say a guy who’s married and has kids and that kind of thing, it’s hard, with work and all that stuff, it’s hard for that guy.  We try to maintain that guy, but it’s tough to keep him involved and motivated because he’s got to go through all this stuff and then once we finally get him out of the classes and into here and train him here, we get him a little bit more motivated.  But it’s tough to keep the guy that’s married and has kids and has a job. 

We’ve got guys who are sixteen and high school kids, college kids, that kind of thing.  Those are the guys that it’s easy for, because they have the time.  Other guys, we try to bend over backwards for and try to get them doing their thing here and being home.  The training now is, unfortunately because of these laws changing, they’ve increased the time they cover more things and that kind of stuff, so it’s really hard for the new guy to get motivated.

Is this something that you see yourself continuing to do?

Oh yeah, I’ll be here forever.

What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of joining here?

Come down. You’ll meet lifelong friends. There’s a lot of camaraderie here. You’ll learn a little something and you’ll have fun doing it.  We pride ourselves on training here, and if a guy wants to join, I’m all for anybody coming down here, guy, girl, whoever, so just come down, you’re gonna enjoy yourself, you're gonna learn where you're at.

Interested in volunteering at the Pearl River Hook and Ladder?

To get started, just give them a call at (845) 735-8822 or stop by the Hook and Ladder firehouse at 56 East Central Avenue, 
Pearl River, NY 10965, on Thursday from 7:30pm to 9pm.  You must be at least 16 years of age and live or work in the Pearl River Fire District.

Know a volunteer who would be interested in being interviewed about their work?

Please contact me using the “email the author” button at the top of the article.


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