"We weren't able to do any kind of outside work, we were just too busy with the fire," said Gary Young, fire chief with the Ecca Volunteer Fire Department. Young has been fighting fires almost every day for weeks, which means he has had to abandon his company.
Young owns and operates a company called YO Enterprises. He and a group of employees do everything from custom dirt work, like clearing land, to repairing gravel roads.
"Sometimes you have to take off when you don't want to or in the middle of a job," Young said. "Time constraints really get to be a problem from time to time."
Volunteer firefighters know they will take a blow to their bank accounts.
"Everybody that volunteers, to a large extent, is going to give up some of their income," Young said.
Young said, in his business, a day away from work, means a day with no pay.
"When the income stops, the bills continue," Young said. "You've got to try and tighten up and make it work somehow."
Fighting fires is not something this 18-year chief plans on giving up any time soon.
"A lot of people, I think, it's just a calling you know," Young said. "It's something that they feel that they were put here to do."
