Most people know Harrison Phillips as an NFL defensive lineman. They see the tackles, the intensity, the Sundays.

But this conversation has very little to do with football.

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, Paul Cummings sits down with New York Jets defensive lineman Harrison Phillips to talk about service, purpose, faith, and the people behind the scenes who make a difference every single day.

From Harrison’s Playmakers camps in Buffalo, Minnesota, Omaha, and now New York/New Jersey, this episode explores the deeper meaning behind volunteering and why impact is never created alone. Harrison opens up about identity beyond football, the importance of community, the volunteers who power his organization, and the responsibility he feels to use his platform for something bigger than himself.

Together, Paul and Harrison connect the worlds of sports, volunteering, leadership, and the fire service, showing that the “heart of a volunteer” exists far beyond the walls of a firehouse.

This is a conversation about purpose. About people. About what happens when someone chooses to show up for others.

And about why that still matters now more than ever.

What happens when someone joins the fire service for all the wrong reasons… and ends up finding exactly where they belong?

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, Paul Cummings sits down with Becca Sikorski of the Lake Shore Fire Department for one of the most honest conversations of the season so far.

Becca shares her unconventional path into the fire service, the anxiety and self-doubt she battled early on, and how volunteering unexpectedly transformed her confidence, purpose, and sense of community. What began as simply wanting to be around the environment quickly became something much bigger.

The conversation dives into the reality of combination departments, the evolving challenges facing volunteer fire and EMS agencies, and the importance of leadership, mentorship, and belonging inside today’s firehouses. Becca also opens up about being a woman in the fire service, learning to prove things to herself rather than others, and the family she found inside the walls of the station.

Most importantly, this episode centers around one simple but powerful idea: “You make time… and you make time for other people’s lives, because it’s important. Our community is important.”

This isn’t just a conversation about firefighting. It’s about purpose, community, and choosing to show up for something bigger than yourself.

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, Paul Cummings sits down with Chad Fraser, Chief of the Hemlock Fire Department in New York, for one of the most honest and emotional conversations yet.

This is not a hypothetical discussion about the volunteer shortage. This is what it looks like when it becomes real.

Hemlock Fire Department is facing the end of its fire district as the community has known it. After years of declining membership, limited daytime response, and the same few people carrying more and more of the load, the department is now working toward consolidation with Livonia.

For Chad, this is deeply personal. His journey into the fire service began after his own family lost their home to a fire in 2005. He saw the way local firefighters showed up for his family, and that moment led him to spend the next 15 years serving others. Over that time, he became an officer, chief, and one of the people trying to keep Hemlock going when there simply were not enough volunteers left to answer every call.

Paul and Chad talk about rural response challenges, mutual aid, aging memberships, changing communities, travel sports, COVID, training requirements, and what happens when people assume the firehouse will always be there.

But at the heart of this episode is something bigger than numbers. It is about family. It is about grief. It is about a firehouse trying to face reality with dignity.

And it is about the warning every small town should hear before it is too late.

If your town is protected by volunteers, this is a conversation worth hearing.

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, Paul sits down with Brian Gay, a firefighter from Reeder, West Virginia, where the reality of the volunteer fire service crisis is impossible to ignore.

Reeder is a small town of about 350 people. Their fire department has three members.

Three.

And there are calls where Brian leaves the station by himself.

This conversation puts real numbers, real consequences, and a real human face behind the recruitment crisis facing volunteer fire departments across the country. Brian talks about what it means to serve in a rural community where mutual aid may be limited, response times can stretch dangerously long, and the future of the local fire department is uncertain.

But this episode is not just about staffing. It is about responsibility. It is about community. It is about the weight carried by the few people who continue to answer the call, even when they know they may be going alone.

Brian also shares the personal experiences that shaped his commitment to serving others, including the kind of loss and hardship that would stop many people in their tracks. Instead, he continues to show up because he knows what it feels like to need help, and he does not want another family to face that pain alone.

This is one of the most sobering conversations of the season. It is not just a story about one small department in West Virginia. It is a warning about what happens when the volunteer fire service is stretched too thin for too long.

Because when the tones drop, the question is not whether the firehouse has a truck.

The question is whether there is anyone left to answer.

In this episode of Heart of the Volunteer, Paul sits down with Captain Brianna Pruitt of the Perkins Fire Department in Perkins, Oklahoma, for a raw and honest conversation about what keeps volunteers answering the call.

Brianna’s story starts with family, service, and a desire to help people. From growing up around public service, serving in the military, dispatching, and eventually becoming a captain in the fire service, her life has continued to point back to one thing: showing up when people need help most.

Together, Paul and Brianna talk about the reality of today’s volunteer fire service. Perkins Fire Department runs hundreds of calls a year, with EMS making up the majority of their responses, while still facing the same challenge departments across the country are dealing with: limited time, limited manpower, and a small group of dedicated people carrying a heavy load.

But this conversation goes deeper than numbers.

Brianna talks about why she still goes, even when she is tired, busy, raising a family, running a business, or being pulled in a dozen different directions. Her answer cuts right to the heart of the volunteer fire service: when someone calls 911, they need to know somebody is coming.

She also opens up about one of the hardest calls of her life, a mass casualty incident involving children, and the moment she nearly walked away from the fire service altogether. Her honesty offers a powerful look at the emotional weight volunteers carry, the faith and strength it takes to continue, and the quiet commitment behind every response.

This episode is about service, sacrifice, family, trauma, faith, and the kind of people who keep showing up, even after the calls that almost break them.

Because to the people waiting for help, showing up is everything.

What if the system isn’t broken…but slowly wearing down?

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, I sit down with Dave Denniston — Director of Risk Management at McNeil & Company and First Vice President of the Association of FireDistricts of New York — for a conversation that gets real, fast.

Dave has spent nearly four decades in the fire service, starting back in 1989 in Cortlandville. He’s served as a firefighter, chief, commissioner, and county coordinator. Today, he sees the fire service from a different angle — one that spans departments across the state and beyond.

And what he’s seeing is something many of us are already feeling. More calls. Fewer people. More departmentsgetting dispatched just to accomplish what one used to handle.

From the outside, everything still looks fine. The trucks still show up. The job still gets done. But behind the scenes, the reality is shifting. We talk about what that actually looks like on the ground, from multiple activations just to get a crew together, to apparatus arriving with fewer firefighters than ever before.

We also dig into the bigger questions: Are we truly fixing the problem… or just managing the decline? Are we sending the right message when it comes to recruitment? Have our communities changed more than we’ve been willing to admit? And what happens if we don’t start adjusting, not years from now, but right now?

This isn’t a conversation about blame. It’s about honesty. Because the volunteer fire service has always been about people. People willing to step up, give their time, and be there when it matters most. That hasn’t gone anywhere. But the world around it has.

If you’re in the fire service, this episode will feel familiar. If you’re outside of it, this is a look into what’s really happening behind the scenes.

Either way, it’s a conversation worth having.

What happens after the call?

When the tones drop and the trucks return… when the radios go quiet… what’s left behind?

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, I sit down with firefighter and songwriter Paul Roberts, the voice behind When the Radios Go Silent. What started as a creative outlet has turned into something much deeper. Through music, Paul is finding a way to say the things many in the fire service carry but don’t always talk about.

We talk about his late start in the fire service, the call that changed him, and the reality of departments trying to do more with less. From rural stations responding with just a handful of members to the growing pressure on volunteers balancing jobs, family, and service, this conversation hits on the challenges we’re all seeing.

But this episode goes beyond the numbers.

Paul shares how his music became a form of therapy, not just for himself, but for others. Messages from firefighters and first responders who hear his songs and feel understood. The weight that doesn’t go away when the scene clears. The truth that even when the radios go silent, the call doesn’t always end in your mind.

We also get into the bigger picture… why fewer people are walking through the doors of firehouses across the country, what we might be getting wrong when it comes to telling our story, and what it really means to serve.

And in the middle of it all, a simple but powerful reminder:

“You get the honor and the privilege of helping people.”

If you’ve ever wondered what drives someone to keep showing up… or what it actually feels like to be on the other side of the call… this is a conversation worth hearing.

In this episode of The Heart of the Volunteer, I sit down with Dustin Cleveland of the Monetta Fire Department in Monetta for a conversation that gets to the core of why people continue to show up.

From the outside, it’s easy to assume that volunteering takes more time than most people can give. It’s one of the most common reasons people never walk through the door. But as Dustin shares, that perception isn’t always the reality.

We talk about what life actually looks like inside a volunteer fire department. The balance between family, work, and the unpredictability of the pager. The calls that stay with you. The trade-offs that don’t always get talked about. And the moment when something that starts out as personal interest turns into a responsibility to the people around you.

Dustin opens up about the realities of serving in a small, rural community, where you’re not responding to strangers, you’re responding to neighbors. He shares what it was like stepping away from the fire service and what it took to walk back through the door years later. And maybe most importantly, he speaks to the idea that this role is a commitment, but not an obligation. Something you fit into your life, not something that takes it over.

This episode isn’t about tactics or training. It’s about perspective. About breaking down the barriers that keep good people from ever taking that first step. And about understanding that sometimes, the hardest part of all of this… is simply walking through the door.

If you’ve ever thought about volunteering, or wondered what keeps people coming back to something that asks so much of them, this conversation is a good place to start.