Addison County’s community firefighters are a special breed of volunteers who, almost uniformly, spend hundreds of hours each year training and reporting to duty for one reason: a desire to give back to their communities.

“I see it as a real opportunity to be there for your neighbors because the community is there for us,” said Weybridge firefighter Jamie McCallum. “I think most of the people in the department feel that way, and the community values fire service and we can certainly feel it.”

McCallum, a Middlebury College professor, is a relative newcomer to firefighting having joined the fire department in 2020 after moving to Addison County from Brooklyn, N.Y. 13 years ago. His interest, he said, was to play a bigger role in the community he had come to love.

Fellow Weybridge firefighters Dyland Bougor and his wife, Lindsay Bougor, have practically grown up with firefighting in their blood. Dylan’s great-grandfather was a founding member of the Weybridge Fire Department, and his stepfather currently is chief. Lindsay’s grandfather and father have also been active volunteer firefighters. To them the decision to join the local fire department was like “second nature.” “I grew up with it and was in it wherever I was,” said Lindsay.

And so goes the mix of volunteers in each of Addison County’s 20 area fire departments. They’re members from long-running family connections to recent volunteers — all dedicated to the idea of neighbors helping neighbors.

These stories and others, including the story of 14-year-old George Cammack of Ripton who attended the 2024 Fire Cadet Academy hosted in Pittsford this summer and is now part of that town’s crew, are wrapped in a 24-page special issue saluting the county’s volunteer firefighters.

The issue is full of photos of each fire department, a roster of the volunteers, along with feature stories on swift water rescues, balancing being a volunteer firefighter with busy careers, welcoming new members, and even a brief story on a local firefighter setting a new Guinness Book of World Record mark.

Like so many volunteers throughout Addison County, their dedication to their departments is remarkable, their service an absolute necessity, and their commitment to the greater good is humbling.

Take a few minutes, then, to pore over the pages of this section honoring Addison County firefighters and when you see one of these volunteers at the next town event, at the ballgame, or in the store, tell them thanks for all they do.

And take to heart what Lindsay Bougor said of ways community members can help each fire department, even if being a member of the department isn’t in the cards: “There are so many ways to help… so many fundraisers and dinners and attending those makes a big difference,” she said. “Just buying a plate of spaghetti means so much to us.”

Angelo Lynn