Come Join the Family!

The Middletown Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, Inc. is committed to providing the citizens of Middletown and Frederick County with competent and professional fire, rescue, and emergency services while ensuring the safety, education, and well-being of our members. We take pride in our commitment by maintaining our skills, knowledge, and abilities.

In 2013, our members ran 1,037 fire and EMS calls. We had over 3,400 hours of training. In addition, we spend many hours with fundraising, work details, and public education.

We are always looking for new members, especially those who live in our first-due area. Our members are everyday people like you: landscapers, students, mechanics, sales clerks, truck drivers, career firefighters and EMTs, and retirees. Whether it’s responding to emergencies, helping with fundraisers or assisting with building or vehicle/equipment maintenance…there’s a spot for you in our family.

Co. 12 Membership Application

DMV Record Request Form

If you meet the qualifications for membership,
please submit completed membership application to:

Middletown Volunteer Fire & Rescue Co., Inc.
Attn: Membership Committee
PO Box 111
Middletown, VA 22645
mvfd12@gmail.com

I NEVER WANTED TO BE A FIREFIGHTER
Article By: Tim Brown

No interest and no time, I remember thinking when the chief and assistant chief of my then-new local volunteer fire department stopped by our housewarming party and mentioned that they were always looking for volunteers. Community involvement? I have a job and countless side projects that need attention, and now house chores. Plus, social stuff wipes me out. So no thanks, but I told them I’d think about it.

Every time the siren went off I would hope whoever needed help was okay. Every time I saw the sign on the firehouse rearranged to congratulate someone or invite us to a pancake breakfast, I’d wonder who-all lived near me and what they were like. When firefighters helped clear my road after hurricane Irene, I wished I had been able to thank them in person.

Little by little, the feeling grew in me that I had to be involved. But it seemed dangerous — fire! Plus I figured the members all knew each other and I would stick out. Still, the idea of somehow volunteering worked its way into my list of goals for 2014.

Then on a snowy January day I waved to a truck and asked the driver to plow my driveway because my plow guy quit. The driver turned out to be the assistant chief of the fire department who came to my housewarming and responded to the sirens I heard and moved trees that the hurricane tore down, and now he was chief. When he finished plowing I said I had thought about joining the fire department, and I asked for an application.

and having to charge your complaining pager. My dad is an HR guy for the federal government, and it surprised him that I was interested in the fire department, because I’m pretty mellow. He said firefighters are often the kind of people who crave action. But he also said that some of those thrill-seeking folks are disappointed when they realize that emergency work is all about boring stuff, preparation and maintenance. Aha!

After a few weeks the department voted me in and gave me a pager and a bag of gear. The first few times my pager went off, Eileen and I were wrangling the kids to sleep. So I got out of that!

Mostly the calls are not fire-related. Flooded basements that we pump out, traffic that we direct so a neighboring fire department doesn’t have to, and downed trees that need to be cut up and moved off the road. The one fire we extinguished since I joined was because some guy was enjoying a fire in his yard during a burn ban.

It’s really all about safety. One of our drill nights was a mandatory OSHA training course. Another was making sure everybody knew how to pump water at the scene of an emergency. Preventative maintenance (PM) nights are about making sure every piece of equipment is in good working condition, and getting to know where it all is.

It’s way more dangerous to ignore all of that potential safety knowledge and emergency preparedness than it is to be a firefighter. Who’s going to show up when you or a neighbor needs help? Competent, careful, willing people are in limited supply. We need you. You need you.