Why these Eagle Scout brothers continue to volunteer for their local fire department

As members of Scouts BSA Troop 920 in Valparaiso, Indiana, brothers Michael, Matthew and Nicholas Wineland learned what it meant to serve.

Now, more than a decade after all three earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the Wineland brothers are still serving their community: Each of them plays a major role for the Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Department.

“We didn’t realize it back when we were doing it, but doing all that volunteer work in Scouting, the importance of serving was instilled in us,” says Nicholas. “Now, looking back, I realize there’s a connection.”

Michael is the Liberty Township assistant fire chief. Matthew is the fire corporation secretary. And Nicholas serves as the Liberty Township fire president.

By spending around 40 hours a week volunteering, they relieve their rural community from the massive burden of having to fund a career fire department that pays personnel full-time salaries.

“We had great Scout leaders who made volunteering fun,” Michael says. “They made it so that we enjoyed what we were doing. Giving up so much of our time — we never even thought about that.”

Serving their community

Volunteer firefighters have the same responsibilities as paid ones. From structure fires to vehicle accidents to cats that get stuck in trees, firefighters are expected to show up and know what to do in almost any type of emergency.

From the equipment and the fire department building to proper training and community outreach, everything is expected to work just as it would at a career department.

Except at a volunteer department, everyone has a separate full-time job in addition to fighting fires.

They do this because they want to.

As assistant fire chief, Michael is tasked with handling community risk reduction efforts and firefighter training while also serving as chairman of the organization’s board of directors.

When he’s not serving, Michael is an operations supervisor at a power plant.

Matthew now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he works as a law enforcement ranger for the National Park Service.

In his spare time, he’s able to serve remotely as the secretary for both the fire department corporation and for its board of directors. He’s also taken on the role of writing new grants, and he’s the organization’s unofficial public relations officer, writing news releases and sharing them on social media to better engage with the public they serve.

Nicholas lives in Mosca, Colorado. Like Matthew, he works as a ranger for the National Park Service.

For the fire department, he serves as president, which means he’s the overall head of the organization, directing policy and making sure they operate within the proper guidelines.

“All of this goes back to Scouting,” Matthew says. “We all had leadership roles in our troop.”

Learning to serve in Scouts

Each of the Wineland brothers has fond memories of their time in Troop 920.

Summer camp was one of the highlights of the year, as were expeditions on foot, bike and canoe. Some kind of service project was almost always integrated into every outdoor experience.

As a Scout, Michael, the oldest of the brothers, spent much of his time volunteering for the local Cub Scout pack, which met in the front room of the local fire station.

They’d see the firefighters go in and out of the building and wonder what it would be like to go out on a call with them.

Michael joined the fire department shortly after earning the rank of Eagle Scout, and his younger brothers did the same in the years that followed.

One of the biggest challenges facing the Liberty Township Fire Department in specific — and all volunteer fire departments in general — is having enough volunteers to keep the thing running.

Michael says when he first started volunteering as a firefighter, the department responded to around 500 calls a year. That number is now up to around 1,100.

Liberty Township’s fire department is one of more than 800 volunteer and rescue departments in Indiana. In fact, more than 80% of the state’s first responders are volunteers.

But when someone calls 911, it doesn’t matter if the person responding is a volunteer or a career. What matters is that they’re able to get the job done.

“People wear many hats to keep the department productive,” Michael says. “It’s a conglomerate of people working together to make sure we’re functioning operationally and administratively. We have to keep up with the times. We have to keep up with our equipment and policies.

“It takes a lot of dedication and a lot of extra time.”

Click here for information on volunteer firefighting in Indiana.

Click here to learn how to become a volunteer firefighter.