Volunteer Programs

Become a Volunteer

The Merrimack Fire and Rescue Department is always looking for qualified volunteers to assist during times of despair where you can help your fellow citizen. One of the most important emergency services operating in Merrimack is the protection against Fire and responding to Emergency Medical and Emergency Management type calls. Being a part of either or all of these groups, you may be called upon at any time there is a fire, Emergency Medical or Emergency Management Incident (Floods, Hurricane, Winter Storm, or even a Pandemic) to assist the career staff within the community to help those in need. The Merrimack Fire and Rescue Department answers thousands of emergency calls ranging from serious industrial accidents, vehicle accidents, storms, floods, searches, heart attacks, general medical calls to wildland fires and house fires.

However just like each of the other emergency services operating today there is a shortage of personnel which can have a adverse effect if the number of emergency calls rises unexpectedly to a point where the career on-duty staff becomes stretched beyond their staffing requirements, which sometimes happens.

When we are stretched to our limits the fire service calls upon their off duty personnel and volunteers who are on-call and who often hold down full time jobs of their own or indeed are self-employed business people to assist.

How to Become a Volunteer for Fire, Emergency Medical and/or Emergency Management

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer you must be physically fit. This is very important and something, which is thoroughly investigated before any offer of a position is made. In addition, you must be some if not all of the following:

  • Live within the Town of Merrimack
  • Be over 18 years of age
  • Be honest and trustworthy
  • Have good eye sight and hearing
  • be able to attend training programs and activities when required
  • Be committed to providing your local community with a high standard of volunteer service

What the Role Contains

As a volunteer the focus of your role will be to provide additional support for the full time career personnel who are trained in the various disciplines as emergency responders. As a volunteer, you required to achieve a specific level of certification to function safely and effectively during an emergency incident. The Merrimack Fire and Rescue Department had multiple volunteer options and they are:

On-Call Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician

Required NH Certified Firefighter Level 1 and Certified Emergency Medical Technician EMT (National Registry)

Recommended additional training: NH Certified Firefighter Level 2

On Call Firefighter

Required Training: NH Certified Firefighter Level 1

Recommended additional training: NH Certified Firefighter Level 2

On-Call Emergency Medical Technician

Required Training: Emergency Medical Technician EMT-Basic, (National Registry), Incident Command System Certification

On-Call Emergency Management

Required training with the FEMA CERT Training Program, Incident Command System Certification, and other in-house training certifications as required performing in emergency shelters, traffic control, fire ground operations, wildland fires, searches, basic first aid (First Responder,) floods and responder rehabilitation area assistants to name a few areas where volunteers will be used.

Applying to Become a Volunteer for the Fire and Rescue Department

Your first course of action should be to go on-line with the Town of Merrimack NH website and complete an employment application identifying you want to a member of the On-Call Division and which group of volunteers you are interested in participating in. This document should be forwarded to the Human Resources Coordinator at the Town Hall and it will then be forwarded to the Fire and Rescue Department. At this point we will collect the applications until we have enough volunteers to proceed with the process or have openings within the organization.

You should also be aware that if you do not already have existing certifications there would be a written examination (Basic Knowledge) given on a scheduled weekday evening for specific applicants.  For those applicants wishing to be a part of the On-Call Firefighter group will be required to complete a Physical Ability Test given by the Merrimack Fire and Rescue Department on a scheduled weekend. This is a demanding examination and you should be in fair to good shape and have a doctors letter indicating you are able to participate in the physical agility test.

Physical Ability Exam