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BRIDGEWATER, VA (Rocktown Now) — The Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Company is accepting applications for the “Bridgwater Volunteer Fire Company Live-In Program.”
The program was first established in July of 2025 and according to Captain William Harrison, it was created to provide free housing for volunteers in exchange for running a certain number of hours per month.
“It essentially helps us with recruitment and retention,” said Harrison. “We get new people in for the program, so we have more volunteers. It also puts a lot more volunteers on calls and also closer to the station.”
The idea of the Live-In Program was first discussed in the 2000’s but was heavily considered in 2020 after a committee was created to renovate the station.
“The first that thing we decided to talk about as a committee was, ‘do we want to do a live-in Program?’, because a lot of departments especially in the northeast have live-in programs and it seems to work really well for them,” said Harrison.
The committee took into account of being located in a college town with James Madison University and Bridgewater College being close by.
Anyone is able to apply as long as they have the following requirements:
- Must be a full-time employee, or a full-time student.
- 120 hours of duty a month.
- Minimum Training Requirements to be considered for the program.
- Firefighter I (And its pre-requisites)
- Continual Training Requirements.
- Must take at least 8 hours of certifiable training a year.
- Examples include VDFP hosted classes listed here, other options not listed at the link include EMT, EMT-A, EMT-P, and other fire training options including Mayday Operations, Rural Water Supply, Basic Pump Operations, and others.
- Must take at least 8 hours of certifiable training a year.
Harrison said the BVFC will provide the training but in order to be a live-in, Firefighter I and its pre-requisites such as Hazmat Awareness Operations.
The BVFC is always accepting applications and if the program is full, applicants will be placed on a waitlist.
Harrison described how because of renovations to the lounge, live-ins are living close by, but he hopes in about 2 years the program will be exclusively in the firehouse in dorm-style rooms. Now, the firehouse has the capacity for 6 live-ins.
“I hope just to have a strong program with a lot of new faces and live ins that we can get into the department and acclimated and become good members of the department to better serve the community,” said Harrison. “I’d like to eventually see 8 live ins and a mixture of people that are in the workforce and also students.”
Firefighter Carson Zick, who is a student at James Madison University, wants to show the different opportunities that can be offered through the program to the Harrisonburg community.
“I think a lot of people go into volunteering or go into these programs end up getting a career within the fire and rescue service,” said Zick. “This potentially being a steppingstone for people who are looking at whether they want to do it as a full-time career or some kind of career in Emergency Management.”
Fire Chief Joshua Shank said in a written statement that the program is a, “Long term recruitment of individuals who are coming to area colleges, that want to get into the fire service long term. We acknowledge that those types of recruitment efforts are something that may take several years or so to truly bear fruit because college students are always planning years out into their future education.”
For more information visit: Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Company Live-In Program – Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Company
To apply, visit the BVFC Facebook page.