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DENTON – For Chief Robbie Phillips, firefighting is in his blood
When he was 14, he joined Preston Volunteer Fire Company, a second home for him and his extended family, starting with his grandfather. “We allowed 14 (year-olds) back then,” he said. “You couldn't do any training until you were 16, but I was already up here with my aunt and uncle and cousins hanging out, and I just loved it.”
At 33, he’s not only a veteran volunteer firefighter, he’s a professional with the Anne Arundel Fire Department as well.
He’s one of hundreds of ordinary heroes in Caroline County who rush to fires, accidents and incidents. Some work as professional firefighters and come home to Caroline County to don volunteer gear and head out again.
There is more to serving than gearing up, hopping aboard a fire engine and heading out to save lives and property. Behind the scenes is always the challenge of raising funds to update aging equipment that travels hundreds of miles of highways, dirt roads, long farm lanes and overgrown country driveways – as well as recruiting volunteers to do the heavy lifting and training to do the job well.
Four of Denton VFC’s firefighters, including President Todd Berneski’s son, are professional firemen elsewhere. “They all work the same shift,” Todd Berneski said. “So those days are really, really tough.”
Berneski, who lives in Denton, is an IT specialist with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, spending dozens of hours a week stuck in rush hour traffic between Denton and northern Virginia. He’s only available to respond after a 12-hour day or on weekends.
The biggest challenge beyond recruitment and retention is fundraising. Visit any of Caroline’s eight fire company social media pages and you’ll find notices of fundraising events and specs of the equipment the funds will purchase.
So, while a smaller cohort of members go out on calls, others organize and staff events like gun bashes, dinners, and wedding receptions in firehalls that have become community gathering places.
Recent successful fundraisers, like the June 7, 2025, Gun Bash that drew hundreds of supporters and netted $42,000, will help pay for a new $950,000 million engine to be delivered in 2026 from Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin. The engine was ordered in October 2022. A new tower ladder, which will need to be replaced about 2034, would cost $2.2 million in today’s dollars.
For comparison Denton VFC’s Engine 302 is a 2011 model bought for nearly $500,000. Engine 304, built in 2004, will be retired.
Denton VFC covers a vast area: 73 square miles, or the geographical footprint of Baltimore City.
“Being a rural county, there's no reserve apparatus available for us, so if we break something, or it's got to go to the shop, we're out,” Berneski said.
It’s often a family affair at Caroline County volunteer fire companies. For example, the Chaires family of Queen Anne-Hillsboro VFC received the Maryland State Firemen’s Association Family Appreciation Program Award June 2025 in Ocean City.
Each company or Department of Emergency Management team covers a fire box, which designates the primary area where each is called to respond. Companies can see which area to respond to on a computer screen. Depending on the emergency, companies can be called to provide support to other areas – including other counties and into Delaware.
Preston VFC’s outreach efforts include reaching out to youngsters in daycare facilities and Preston Elementary School, especially during Fire Prevention Week in October. They provide fire engine rides for kids and their parents, and teach fire safety lessons.
“The kids love it, the parents love it,” Phillips said. “We go over some fire safety stuff, let them spray the hose, take a little tour of the station, and then we put them back in the fire truck and drop them back off – blow the sirens, blow the horns, have lights on – and they love it.”
Besides responding to emergency calls, volunteers also fill in when a neighboring fire company has an event or funeral.
When longtime Preston volunteer firefighter and former chief and past president Dorsey Blades passed away recently, Cambridge Fire Company provided coverage so that Preston members could attend the funeral.
“We could definitely use firemen,” Berneski said, but even people with business experience can play a role in the company. “Everybody's two-income households, and … you don't work where you live – nobody does – and that's what's hurting us.”
By contrast, Phillips said Preston VFC is experiencing an unusual surge of interest. “I'm not sure what has happened recently, but I bet you we've gained probably 12 to 15 people this year,” he said. “We’ve got a few cadets which are under the age of 18 – 16 to 18 are our cadets. The rest are probably between the ages of 20 and 30.”
“We just hope that we try to keep these newer ones involved in training and hanging with us, and they see the joy in helping, and also the joy in the fire department family that we try to keep alive here,” Phillips said.
If you’re wondering how you can help support the mission of Caroline County’s eight fire companies, visit your local company’s Facebook or website, or stop by the station.
Update: more details about recent fundraising efforts were added above.
