Wyoming Volunteer Firefighters are a Vital Force for Local Safety

Service Has Benefit of Strong Bonds and Visible Impact on the Community

By Val Prevish for the City of Wyoming

Michael Groteke grew up with the Wyoming Fire & EMS Department. His memories of family meals within his bustling household of nine include watching his dad, Mark, frequently leave the dinner table abruptly when he got a call for an emergency. Mark is a longtime volunteer firefighter for Wyoming. His service to his community made a lasting impression on his son.

“I remember how when the alarm sounds, he’s gone,” Groteke said of those moments. “He didn’t see it as an interruption. He would say, ‘Somebody needs me. I have to go.’”

Today, Groteke, a 2017 graduate of Wyoming High School who now works full-time as a designer for TRC, an engineering firm in utilities and transportation, is following in his dad’s footsteps. He is training to be a volunteer firefighter for Wyoming.

“He was a big inspiration for me,” Groteke said of his dad. “He made volunteering work in his busy life. So I always saw it as a positive.”

Groteke is one of three new recruits for Wyoming currently training to become volunteer firefighters. There are also four fire cadet recruits (student volunteers from Wyoming High School) who will complete training for more adult volunteer roles now that they are high school graduates. 

The recruits and graduating cadets take part in a 36-hour firefighting class that began this spring. They also participate in weekly drills to practice hands-on skills, 12 of which are mandatory each year to maintain active status with the department, although the department recommends 24.

Recruit Michael Groteke reviews rope handling with Wyoming Fire Chief Dennis Brown.

Wyoming’s Fire & EMS Department was founded in 1892 and has remained a mostly volunteer organization since that date. While the department hires part-time paramedics, firefighters are all volunteers.

Dating to America’s first colonial settlements, when it is said Benjamin Franklin founded the first official volunteer firefighting company in Philadelphia in 1736, volunteer fire departments have been vital to communities across the country. 

Wyoming’s crew of 40 volunteer firefighters takes part in about 350 emergency calls each year, although only a small portion of these are active structure fires. Paramedics handle another 691 calls, often supported by the fire department.

Groteke said he always knew he wanted to be a volunteer firefighter after growing up around the department. His dad started as a cadet in Wyoming in the 1980s and his mom volunteered for the Arlington Heights Fire Department.

“I grew up around the fire house,” he said. “My whole family has been involved with Wyoming’s EMS. Me and my siblings would ride in the trucks during the parades. I’ve always wanted to serve in some way.”

The appeal of being a volunteer firefighter extends beyond just the chance to volunteer in the community, however, Groteke noted. There’s also the unique team cohesion of the department that promotes a strong camaraderie among its members.

“There’s a family atmosphere, a brotherhood,” Groteke said. “We’re all working toward a common goal. You need to have familiarity to depend on each other in an emergency.”

Wyoming Fire Chief Dennis Brown said the department is a close-knit community for a reason.

“We rely heavily on each other,” said Brown. “That creates strong bonds and friendships.”

Volunteer fire recruits Carter Woods (left) and Michael Dahlquist review ladder techniques with instructor Lieutenant Mark Groteke (Michael Groteke’s father) during a drill. Carter Woods is a 2025 graduate of Wyoming's Fire Cadet program who said he has been interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter since seventh grade, after meeting an older cadet. He described the cadet program as "The most fun four years I've ever had. The fire department has become my second family."

In addition to taking part in emergency runs and regular drills and trainings, the volunteers also help out with various events in the City, such as fundraisers and cookouts that support the department and other local services and organizations. They also host the annual Turkey Raffle every November, the department’s biggest fundraiser, and the Easter Egg Hunt in the spring.

The ongoing community involvement and the chance to form lasting friendships is frequently mentioned by firefighters as one reason they stay with the department for years, or even decades, said Brown.

For Michael Dahlquist, who recently moved to Wyoming because of his girlfriend, Maggie Fitzpatric, whose family lives here, the social belonging was a welcome benefit of joining the Wyoming Fire & EMS team as a volunteer recruit.

“The closeness of the group extends beyond the department,” he said. “I feel I could be a part of that. Wyoming feels like a close-knit community. Everyone knows each other and they care about what’s going on. It seems like a great place to be.”

Dahlquist also hopes to become a professional firefighter. He is currently applying to fire academies to start training. Being a volunteer firefighter is great experience, he said, as well as a way to meet new friends in the area, having moved here from Illinois.

As with many other volunteers, Dahlquist has a family connection to firefighting. His grandfather was a firefighter and paramedic in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Tragically, he also lost a brother in a house fire. An event that made a significant impact on his feelings about his future.

“That was a big part of my interest in firefighting,” he said. “I don’t want others to face that kind of loss.”

He hopes his professional work as a firefighter and his volunteer efforts will prevent future tragedies.

It is estimated that a little more than 60 percent of U.S. fire departments are volunteer, and another 15 percent are mostly volunteer. But the number of volunteers is dwindling as fewer Americans find time to fit volunteering into their busy schedules. In 2020, the number of volunteer firefighters stood at nearly 697,000, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council. But this is a decline of more than 200,000 from the mid-1980s, during a period when the U.S. population grew by roughly 40 percent. 

Volunteers are essential to the mission of Wyoming’s Fire & EMS Department, said Brown. The department is maintaining its numbers, but he would like to see more new recruits to ensure a robust pipeline exists to replace volunteers who gradually retire from service.

“We get folks from all walks of life, both men and women,” he said. “There really isn’t a typical firefighter. The only requirements are that you live or work in Wyoming or nearby.

“There are very few volunteer jobs that I can think of where you can make an immediate impact like this one,” he said. “You’ll make a difference in people’s lives right away. It’s very rewarding.”

In full fire gear, recruits run through regular drills to learn techniques and safety. Here, Michael Groteke works with the recruit team learning equipment handling.