What if no one answered the call?
     Last year, the 35 active volunteers of the Seward Volunteer Fire Department answered that call 464 times. That's how many times members' pagers went off, summoning help for a person in distress.
     In addition to that, the SVFD conducted numerous other community events related to fire and emergency medical services.
     Although the department currently has 35 members, its maximum roster is 48.
     Department members participated in separate monthly training, department, company and committee meetings, as well as annual events and activities like the Nebraska State Fire School, Nebraska EMS Conference, Seward County disaster drills, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Fire Prevention Week, severe weather spotting and attendance at funerals of past members, among others.
     The commitment of its volunteers members, the City of Seward and the community resulted in Seward having one of the best fire protection classes of a city its size with a volunteer department in Nebraska.
     The SVFD would like to invite qualified applicants with an interest in serving their community to join the current volunteers as members of the department.
     Seward employers are also asked to encourage their employees to become members of the all-volunteer department and to support them when they do.
     Anyone interested in joining the SVFD should contact the department's recruitment chair, Lisa Cook, at (402) 641-7608 for more information.
     The SVFD is very appreciative of the dedication of its members, the community support it receives and its past members who have answered the calls for more than 100 years.
     This is the first in a regular series of articles about the Seward Volunteer Fire Department that will run in the Seward County Independent as part of its recruitment project.