“I was 16 when I joined,” Nate Bramley says. You could be 16 then, now it’s 18. He signed up soon as he could, “To support my community and family.” The Bramleys have been serving for years. His father and brother both serve in Margaretville. His grandfather was in Andes’ department. Now Nate does nearly every job in the department. Membership was falling off, and we needed more chauffeurs, as the drivers are called. “Getting a truck to the scene safely and quickly is often the best thing. If it’s not there, you can’t fight the fire.” But because there aren’t enough members, Nate also does fight fires. He’s an interior and exterior firefighter. “I’ll pull up, put it in park and pull out the hose and start in.”  

“The first time I drove a big ladder truck, yeah I was nervous. It’s an expensive piece of equipment, but the adrenaline kicks in. And, being up in the ladder in the bucket, it’s 80-100 feet up. That can be scary,” he says, “But so too is being at the point where we don’t have enough people to respond to a call.” Serving is a sacrifice, he explains – like this year. He was about to sit down to his birthday dinner when we were called out for a structure fire. It was also his 32nd birthday, meaning he has been on the department half his life.