Employment

Did you know that there are “approximately” one million Firefighters in the United States? Did you also know that about 70% of those Firefighters are volunteers? If you did not know these two facts, you are not alone. Most people who live or have lived in a small to large city are not exposed to a fire department that was mostly or all volunteer based. Across the United States, once you are outside these smaller to larger cities, fire departments are comprised of mostly, if not all volunteers.

In 1915 the Hughson Fire Protection District (HFPD) was established to provide fire protection and emergency services to the surrounding community. These services then and still are today predominantly provided by volunteers. The HFPD provides its services to our 35 square mile district along with reciprocal mutual aid to our neighboring fire departments. Since 1972 when the “City of Hughson” was established, the HFPD has been the City’s fire and emergency services partner within the city limits, as well as our full district boundaries.

Today, over 100 years later, the HFPD still relies on and operates with most of our personnel being volunteers. The HFPD currently operates with 25 to 30 personnel, of which only 3 are paid staff. Therefore, the HFPD volunteer firefighters make up about 90% of our total firefighters.

Along with their family and personal obligations, the volunteers donate as much time as they can to support our community. Our volunteers consist of people with careers in accounting, farming, sales, manufacturing, public service, as well as other professions. Our current group of volunteers has a mix of personal that has already volunteered for 2 years, 10 plus years, 20 plus years, 30 plus years and two with 40 plus years.

The HFPD with its limited tax base revenue, and along with the Volunteer Firefighters Associations Annual Chicken BBQ fund raiser, have done an excellent job of managing these revenues and fund raisers to provide our community with the fire and emergency services needed. However, we must continue to prepare for the growth of the City of Hughson and the surrounding community with sufficient staffing of volunteers.

If you are interested in applying to become one of our volunteer firefighters, please review and complete the attached fillable PDF application. Upon completing the application, please sign and email it to <a href=”mailto:sberner@hughsonfire.com”>sberner@hughsonfire.com</a> or drop it off at the station at 2316 3rd St. If you have any questions, feel free to call the station at <a href=”tel:+12098832863″>(209) 883-2863</a>