Firefighter dilemma: When not to respond-Some Volunteer Firefighters who have been drinking HAVE to make that decision. The people who put out fires in most of South Dakota aren’t waiting at the station for the next emergency.
They’re probably at work, at home on the couch, or – in some cases when the timing is bad – inside a bar. Seventy percent of South Dakotans – 95 percent of the state’s square miles – are served by unpaid volunteer firefighters.
One of those volunteers, 43-year-old Scott Johnson of Madison, was arrested two weeks ago after he drove a fire truck to a false alarm following a work shift at a nearby bar, and possibly some drinking. He was charged with first-offense DUI. The case drew media attention and stirred emotions in the Lake County town of 6,600. But it also highlights the best and worst qualities of the volunteer model that forms what State Fire Marshal Al Christie calls "the backbone of the fire service."
