If there's a fire in the Southern Tier, it is likely a volunteer answering the call.

"Quite a large percentage," said Robert Brady, Broome County Firefighters Association president. "We have about between 900 and 1,000 volunteer firefighters in Broome County."

Volunteer firefighters help ensure our community is safe through their service, but their numbers have continued to dwindle over time.

"People's lives tend to be busier," Brady said. "People used to belong to a lot of organizations to fill their spare time. Everybody's life tends to be busier now."

With a growing shortage and growing calls, the southern tier has turned to high schoolers as long as 16 to fill the gaps.

"I really wanted to do something for my town and for my community like pretty soon, and the greatest avenue for that, in my opinion, was to join vestal fire," said Tyeler Hartman, a Vestal firefighter.

And through the long and rigorous training process, these firefighters form a brotherhood.

"You're not just with people from your station or your department, but from all around this area in New York," Hartman said. "I've made friends from Chenango Forks, from Endwell right here, from west corners."

And Endwell fire has no deeper brotherhood than the Blanchard twins, a pair of fire-fighting brothers.

"We have such a strong bond and strong connection, and it works really well," said Liam Blanchard, one of the brothers and a firefighter in Endwell. "Like when you're going into a fire you know that he's got my back and I've got his back and it's a really positive experience."

But what matters most is going out on call, and every firefighter vividly remembers their first.

"It just felt really awesome to help out in any small way, like getting out a set of irons to the interior guys or switching out bottles," Hartman said.

Even if they'd rather forget it.

"I got here, and I put on my gear and I put my gear on wrong," Blanchard said.

But at the day's end, these courageous volunteers receive greater satisfaction than money could buy.

"You want to help out your friends, you want to help your family in the event that you have an emergency or someone you know has an emergency," Brady said. "It is very rewarding when people come up to you and thank you."

And we can all give thanks to this community cornerstone.