Brian Martin wasn’t really looking to get into volunteer firefighting, but he has been doing it for 15 years now. Martin is currently the deputy chief of Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company, and received the department’s 2007 Firefighter of the Year award.
Coastal Point • Ruslana Lambert
Brian Martin was named the Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company’s Firefighter of the Year for 2007. He’s also a family man and businessman.
Martin, 31, was born in Philadelphia, attended Penn State University and was a volunteer firefighter for five years in the Philadelphia area. He got started in firefighting after a man he was working a high school apprenticeship introduced him to firefighting. He then joined a station and was a member there for five years. When he was studying mechanical engineering, his father retired and decided to move the family to the Bethany Beach area. Because he had already been with the fire department in Pennsylvania for five years, Martin decided to get involved in Bethany. In 1997, he met with the members there and started the application process.
Criteria for the Firefighter of the Year Award is beyond requirements to be considered “active” with the company. It is designed to recognize the member who has distinguished himself through exemplary performance as a firefighter and a member. When asked what goes into choosing someone for the award, Martin blushed.
“Somebody else decided it for me,” he said, laughing. “But I’ve been on committees before where we were choosing someone and it is someone who does more than required, who really goes above and beyond, and puts a lot of time in. And [when you get it] it’s humbling to be recognized by your peers.”
Martin’s accomplishments as a member and a firefighter are prodigious, according to BBVFC Public Information Officer Bob Minutoli. As deputy chief for the last two years, Martin assists the fire chief with and advises him on day-to-day operations and has responsibility for the very important duty crew and live-in programs, Minutoli said.
“As a firefighter, he can always be found in the middle of the action when he does not have command responsibilities,” Minutoli said. As deputy chief, he manages scheduling for the members in Bethany, where they currently have six live-in firefighters. “In exchange for room and board, we get people who live at the station. They work around their other jobs so that the station is always covered.”
Martin is in charge of a duty-crew program, which has recently undergone some changes. Because volunteerism is down, the company amended their bylaws since they had required that for someone to be a member they had to live within 5 miles of the station. “We amended that to say that any member of any other fire company in the state can ‘pull shifts’ so we will have better coverage. And we get people from Christiana, Gumboro, Frankford, Roxana. It works out well.”
Martin has also been very involved in many of the committees at the station. Most recently he was on the building committee, overseeing many of the contractors on their newly built station on Route 1.
Chief Tom Moore said, “Brian is a foundation stone of this organization and a role model for every firefighter, especially our younger members and juniors. His value to the BBVFC is incalculable.”
Martin is also a member of the company’s Ambulance Committee — something in which he takes much pride. “We got notice from Millville that as of January of 2009 they would not be providing the people of our jurisdiction anymore with ambulance services. And we are grateful for those years of service. Being a member of the Ambulance Committee allows me to make sure that we continue that job of serving the community and providing them with quick service and access to medical centers,” Martin said.
The State Fire Prevention Commission, which oversees areas of service and districting, set up a committee to try to figure out what todo about the loss of ambulance service to the Bethany district. When that committee couldn’t come up with a solution, the Commission went to the Bethany Beach and said they would have to find a solution on their own.
These days, Martin puts in a lot of time and energy to see to it that the people he serves will be able to have this necessary service. The station is currently trying to get four areas, “the Big Four” as he calls them, on board: Bethany, South Bethany, Fenwick Island and Sea Colony.
“The area we need to cover is from the Inlet Bridge to Fenwick Island and inland to the Assawoman Canal. We have about 7,000 property owners in those areas, plus another 3,000 in the areas such as Middlesex and North Bethany, and we are working with the towns and the people to secure contracts.”
Martin is a nationally certified Firefighter I and II and is also the company’s most experienced seaman, having recently passed the U.S. Coast Guard captain’s exam. All of the responsibilities Martin tends to with the company are part of his volunteer position. In any given week, officers can spend 20 to 30 hours working on committee work alone. Martin puts in this time and works full-time at Martin Services LLC, a family-owned property management business with his father, Jack, who is also a BBFVC member. Martin’s wife, Jesika, is a Rehoboth Beach-based Realtor, and the couple has two children at home.
Martin emphasized that there is a real sacrifice on the part of his family.
“I think some people that move here are used to paid firefighters, so they don’t understand that we are volunteers and recognize all the time we can spend away from our family. It’s a lot of work to be a volunteer firefighter. But it’s nice to know you always have a place to hang out. I really enjoy the camaraderie.”