CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The holiday season is a busy time for not only families but workers responding to emergencies.
A North Carolina fire chief is hoping to fill many roles ahead of the holiday festivities.
Dale Loberger is the fire chief of the Griffith Road Volunteer Fire Department Station 13.
He’s holding down multiple jobs while serving as chief.
Loberger loves working for Station 13. He says the firefighters are dedicated to protecting their community.
“It’s very rewarding,” Loberger said.
Loberger says like many departments in the state, the Griffith Road location is in need of more volunteer firefighters.
“There’s fewer people volunteering,” Loberger said. “We need people to run calls. The people in the community call 911, they expect someone to come and help them.”
Loberger says the department is required to have at minimum 20 volunteer firefighters.
It currently has 21.
When there’s an emergency call in his district, Loberger’s team is first on scene.
“We’re not always at the station, but that’s actually a good thing for some of our citizens, because we live in different parts of the district. So we can respond very quickly. We’re there within just minutes of someone calling 911 and saying what the problem is,” Loberger said.
Loberger and others are devoting more time to the job when they can, but he is expecting more calls throughout the upcoming holiday season.
The majority of those 911 calls will likely be for non-fire incidents like medical emergencies.
“We have to be prepared to respond to anything,” Loberger said. “It’s so critical to have staff, because we don’t know when we’re going to be needed. It’s 24/7, 365 we’re on the job.”
Anyone with a passion and heart for helping people and their community is encouraged to apply.