For EMS and fire, Labor Day is just another workday
For most of America, the first Monday of September is a well-earned day off, as well as the unofficial end of summer — one more day to relax and unwind in the sun with family before autumn and winter arrive.
It is a day off observed by everyone from schoolchildren to small businesses to federal institutions such as the U.S. Postal Service.
“As a state agency, our staff all gets Labor Day off,” said Christina Gibbs, community relations coordinator for PennDOT District 10. “If any crews are working on Monday, they would be contractors and not state employees, barring any callouts for weather situations and road closures.”
But injury, disease and death do not take a holiday, so emergency medical services are on the job.
Emergency medical technician Kent Shoemaker and paramedic Rob Charles of Quality EMS, based in Mars, are just two of the EMS personnel who came in to work Monday, a day when hardly anyone else did. For them, Labor Day was just another day.
“It doesn’t bother me (that I’m working on Labor Day). I feel like I'm doing something for the community,” Shoemaker said. “There's certain types of businesses and service industries that have to work. When you are a part of EMS, you know that you're going to be working some holidays, and there's probably a good chance you're going to work overtime also. It’s just part of the business.”
Shoemaker added that, other than some office staff having the day off, not much was out of the ordinary Monday because of the hectic nature of their work. Earlier that day, the two acted on a call to ferry a patient to UPMC Passavant Hospital.
“Right now there’s two crews on,” Shoemaker said. “We just got back, and they went out before we got back. There's not a whole lot of atmosphere because there's hardly anyone here.”
According to Charles, days such as Labor Day actually tend to be a little slower in terms of EMS calls than the typical day.
“Every day has the potential to be to be different, but I would say we generally have fewer calls on holidays,” Charles said.
Firefighters don’t have the day off for Labor Day either, because fire itself certainly doesn’t. For nearly all firefighters in Butler County, the sacrifice of working on Labor Day is especially profound. Save for the Butler City Bureau of Fire, all of the fire departments in the county operate on a volunteer basis, although some, such as the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company, have started a stipend program to attract recruits.
Monday, Sept. 3 was a particularly special day for the Harmony Fire District, as its members spent most of their day moving equipment and vehicles from their former firehouse in Harmony to their brand-new firehouse in Zelienople.
Tim Sapienza has been a volunteer firefighter for more than a half-century, long enough to have served as both a fire chief and as president of the Harmony Fire District at one point. As a result, he’s worked through plenty of holidays over the decades, including Labor Days.
“It’s a labor of love,” Sapienza said. “No pun intended.”
Working one more does not affect him, as according to him, Labor Day feels no different than any other day.
“We always have calls on Labor Day,” he said. “The days all run together.”
