In Northfield, fighting fires is a family affair. Of the current staff of 31, at least four fathers have brought their children into the department over the years.
The tradition of community service runs strong in Franklin County and often runs through families by example from older generations to younger.
The Northfield Fire Department has been served by three generations of Dunnells. Floyd “Skip” Dunnell III, who at 62 has been in the department for 45 years, remembers going on calls with his own father at the age of 7.
“If I was with him, and the call came in, I rode shotgun,” said Skip Dunnell, who remembers a house fire when he was 13. Only his father and two other firefighters were able to respond. Skip Dunnell ran the hose. The house was saved. Today he’s chief.
These days the chief’s daughter Amanda, 30, is moving up the ranks. They are the only father-daughter team in the department, and Amanda was the department’s first female firefighter.
“I knew, probably at the age of 15 or 16, that her intentions were to get on the Fire Department,” the elder Dunnell said. “I knew she was going to have an uphill battle because it was an all-male department at the time.”
But as he probably suspected, “She on her own has earned (the department’s) respect and confidence. … And she’s excelled,” he notes.
Just last month, the Northfield Selectboard approved Amanda Dunnell as the department’s emergency man agement administrative assistant.
“(The Dunnells) have been
The two agree that their part-time volunteer jobs are demanding, but rewarding.
“There’s times when people are in trouble and you can give back and make a difference,” Skip Dunnell said. “Your actions are what lead to a safe and good conclusion.”
For Amanda, “being able to help others during their time of need” is what inspired her to be a firefighter. She joined the junior firefighter program at 13 after years of watching her father.
Skip Dunnell officially joined the department as soon as he graduated high school in 1971, quickly rising through the ranks to become lieutenant in 1974 and chief starting in 1976.
“He’s most likely one of the longest-serving chiefs in the state,” said Bill Dolan, secretary/treasurer of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts. “Nobody serves that long anymore.”
Maybe not, but Amanda is in the wings to carry on the family tradition, a tradition of community service that can be seen in all our rural towns served by volunteers, certainly in our volunteer fire departments or town halls or service groups, a tradition of helping your neighbors that people like the Dunnells all over Franklin County demonstrate and, we hope, encourage in other younger generations for years to come.