Vermont’s Remote Tech Workers Are Putting Out Fires — Literally

Reference: Seven Days by Steve Goldstein

Thanks to their flexible, home-based jobs, remote tech employees are a surprising force on Vermont’s largely volunteer-run fire departments.

Jonathan Weiss and his family moved to Pawlet in 2010, taking up residence in a home next to the village firehouse. Coming from Brooklyn, Weiss was accustomed to the classic FDNY tableau: firefighters lounging in front of gleaming red engines, a dalmatian or German shepherd at their feet, ears pricked for the inevitable call.

In Pawlet’s firehouse, there were engines — but no people, no dogs.

“I had no idea what went on next door when we moved in,” Weiss recalled. A village newsletter revealed that the fire station was staffed by volunteers, so everyone was at a workplace or home until a call came in. Moreover, the newsletter warned, unless more personnel could be found, the station would be forced to shut down.

Weiss, a freelance graphic artist who makes animations for streaming services such as Netflix, was searching for what he called “that small-town experience.” Moreover, he wanted to do something outside his comfort zone that would engage him with the Pawlet community. The answer, he discovered, was waiting for him next door. Fifteen years later, Weiss is the fire chief.

Some people might claim that without the presence of tech workers toiling for distant masters, Vermont might go up in smoke. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but there’s some truth in the hyperbole.

In 2023, the last year with complete data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vermont’s 236 fire departments employed 390 full-time, career firefighters out of a total of about 5,200. That means that approximately 4,800 came from civilian ranks. And, according to Vermont Technology Alliance executive director Adam Locklin, a surprising number of those volunteers are tech employees who work remotely.

Locklin began his position with the nonprofit business association last December. As he traveled the state running its programs, he kept encountering members who told him that they had joined their local fire department or rescue squad. “I’ve met many people who bridge these worlds,” he told Seven Days, citing “at least 50 tech remote professionals who are also volunteer firefighters.”

His curiosity was amplified by his own experience. He, too, had become part of his nearby squad — the Grand Isle Fire Department — as well as Team Rubicon, an international rescue group that mobilizes local missions.

Locklin used LinkedIn, a professional networking site, to dig deeper, cross-referencing Vermont firefighters and remote-working techies. Even with an admittedly casual methodology, Locklin said, his search results supported his personal findings. The representation of tech workers “in rural service and community life is much stronger than most realize,” he added.

There’s a reason that could be true. Remote employees not only spend their days in their home communities, they often have the flexibility to set their work schedules and leave their desks when needed.

The presence in Vermont of so many remote workers is not surprising. From 2018 to 2022, the state conducted a campaign to attract new employees from out of state. The Worker Relocation Incentive Program offered $7,500 stipends to those who moved here. Over a four-year span, Vermont gave out 876 grants that drew 1,750 workers. Some of these grantees worked for local companies, while more than 300 were employed by out-of-state firms. The pandemic took even more jobs online, strengthening those ranks.

Volunteers with tech expertise are especially welcome on fire department crews, given the increasing presence of technology in firefighting and rescue operations, such as the use of computerized tools for extracting people from car wrecks.

“People think of the fire department as charging into a burning building with a 70-pound pack on your back and wrangling a stupefyingly heavy hose,” Weiss said. “That’s a small part of it; the range of things we do is very broad.”

More often than fighting fires, departments respond to motor vehicle accidents, downed electrical wires, flood rescues and gas leaks. Weiss’ squad was once called to rescue a baby deer that had fallen to the bottom of a waterfall.

The tasks are varied, but for most volunteers the motivation is specific: the desire to give back to their community, to be woven into the fabric of a chosen place.

“I was looking to get embedded in my community and be involved in a purposeful way.”JARED ALVORD

Growing up in Plainfield, Mass., Jared Alvord watched his dad volunteer at the local firehouse. “So, volunteerism has generally been important to me,” Alvord said. After getting both a BA and an MBA from the University of Vermont, he settled in Waitsfield as global director of renewable energy and sustainability for World Kinect, an energy firm headquartered in Miami. His duties extend to solar installations and e-mobility issues such as EV battery efficiency. When he isn’t directing employees in Norway, Japan or Australia, Alvord is on call for the Warren Fire Department, the neighboring town in which he lived first.

“I was looking to get embedded in my community and be involved in a purposeful way,” he said. Ten years ago, he found that purpose by becoming a first responder. The fact that something so fundamental to a community is staffed by volunteers, he said, “is pretty darn amazing.”

Mark Healey found his inspiration the hard way. He and his family were living in a suburb of Boulder, Colo., when a wildfire obliterated 1,000 structures in the town. That experience eventually drove Healey, who had cofounded a financial-advisory tech firm, east from the Rocky Mountains. Four years ago, he settled in Shelburne and immediately sought out the fire department. He also became an officer in the Vermont State Firefighters’ Association, where much of the discussion revolves around recruitment and retention.

The average citizen is dealing with personal and professional demands, plus the country’s chaotic political and economic environment, Healey said. “In this day and age,” he asked, “how do you still convince people that community is important and that you need to participate?”

The demand for volunteers is great — particularly in rural locations, but even in the more populous Chittenden County. Andrew Dickerson, the Shelburne fire chief, said he’s constantly in recruitment mode and estimated that 90 percent of Vermont’s fire departments are short-staffed. Though his department is relatively healthy with 32 personnel, Dickerson said, maintaining that level is a battle. Completing the requisite 100 hours of training is tough, he explained, especially for volunteers who have families. At 32, Dickerson is one of the youngest chiefs in the state and the only full-time, paid employee in the Shelburne department. He started his career as a cadet in the Vermont Fire Academy when he was 16.

It hasn’t escaped Dickerson’s notice that Gov. Phil Scott has unwittingly made his job harder. The pool of remote workers will shrink when a new state order takes hold: State employees must begin reporting to their offices at least three days a week as of December 1. So, those who were working remotely will soon be less available to volunteer.

Adam White, chief of the Grand Isle Fire Department, recently participated in a roundtable with Scott and Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison. White works remotely as a tech compliance officer for an insurance firm. When he mentioned the unintended consequence of the return-to-office order, Morrison acknowledged that the state hadn’t considered the edict’s impact on employees who also work as first responders.

Are all-volunteer fire departments sustainable? This is one of the many questions Weiss still ponders after 15 years in Pawlet. He wonders if one day the building next door to him will go quiet forever.

“People tend to frame this problem as a diminishment of volunteerism,” he said. “I see it as a diminishment of the opportunity to volunteer.” So many people, he said, are “cobbling together three jobs to make a living, and they just don’t have any time, or they don’t have control of their own schedules.

“All these things,” he continued, “cut deeply into the candidate pool that volunteer fire departments can draw from.” 

Meet Adam Locklin at the Vermont Technology Alliance booth at the Vermont Tech Jam on Saturday, October 25, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., at Hula in Burlington. Preregister for the free event at techjamvt.com.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Remote Patrol | Vermont’s home-based tech workers are putting out fires — literally”

This article appears in The Tech Issue.