Nebraska Volunteer Firefighters Put Family Life on Hold to Serve Their Communities

BATTLE CREEK, Neb. — In towns across Nebraska, volunteer emergency crews don’t just answer the call; they put their lives on pause to save yours.

“It was like a Thanksgiving dinner or Easter or something and they said no its fine, we’ll finish up, and we’ll see you in an hour or however long it’s going to be,” said Ginger Howser. 

Mike Goodwater owns Goodies Grill in Battle Creek. When the pager goes off, he steps out of one pair of shoes and into another for the Battle Creek Volunteer Fire Department.

“It's a camaraderie that people may not understand, why you do the things you do for nothing, but we all are here for the community,” said Goodwater.

According to the Nebraska State Fire Marshal, there are over 300 volunteer fire departments, including Battle Creek.

Working emergency scenes together takes trust, and John and Marlene Bomar have more than 40 years of trust from being married. At the end of the day for the Bomars, it's not about the paycheck.

“It’s all in here we love it, the volunteer part of it, wouldn’t want to do it any other way,” said Marlene Bomar.

“I guess we’re fortunate being a husband and a wife that we can go home and talk about stuff that you shouldn’t be able to talk about,” said John Bomar. 

For Randy and Ginger Howser, they first started volunteering because their daughter wanted to do it. Without the support from family, they don’t know what they would do. 

“We never really thought about it,” said Ginger Howser.

“We never thought about it because they always supported it. So I guess we never really thought of what it would be like to not have it,” said Randy Howser.

As drought conditions worsen in many parts of the state, John Bomar left a message for all Nebraskans.

“Come down to one of the trainings and ask when you can come out. And just everybody in the state, actually the whole country needs volunteers right now,” said John Bomar.