Beatty 1
Andrew Beatty
11-13-11
Miss Devine
English 1101
Oakboro VFD
The purpose of this mini ethnography is to describe the way of life for a particular group
of people. For the mini ethnography that we have to write, we have to pick a discourse
community to do research about and also write about what we learn from that community. I
wasn’t sure what kind of community I was going to pick to do my research on at first, but it
didn’t take me long to realize that I should pick Oakboro Volunteer Fire Department to write my
mini ethnography about. There are several reasons that I wanted to pick them for my paper, but
the main reason is that I am already a member in the department. I knew that since I was already
a member in the department, I would have good access to be able to do my research and
observations. The fire department is of course in Oakboro, which is my hometown and I still
live there now so it is easy for me to get to the department when I need to and for this project as
well. I also picked the fire department because I knew I would be able to go to their meetings
that they have several times a month, which would be a good time for me to do the observations
that I needed to do. So this is why I decided to pick Oakboro Fire Department to research and
write my paper on. [It took me awhile to decide how I should start my paper, so I decided that I
would give a little background on what a mini ethnography is first. Then I would introduce what
I picked to do my research on and list several reasons why I picked that. I didn’t want to go into
too much detail about Oakboro VFD yet in the first paragraph, so I just said a few basic things
Beatty 2
about the department. I also didn’t know if I needed to include anything else in my introduction
for this mini ethnography, but this is what I finally decided on.]
To give some background information about Oakboro Volunteer Fire Department, they
serve the town of Oakboro and the surrounding towns on mutual aid when needed. Oakboro
isn’t very big, so we only have one fire station for our town. It’s not like a major city where they
have paid firefighters working there, with multiple fire stations just for one city. The whole town
of Oakboro only has one stop light to give you an example of the size and how small the town is.
The fire department is located on a small road that comes off of the main road, so you can see it
from the main road through Oakboro but you can’t see the entire building. The actual station
itself is has a meeting room, a couple of offices for the chief and assistant chief that are upstairs
from the main meeting room, and six bays to park fire department vehicles in and also store
equipment. So we actually have a good sized station with plenty of room for meetings and also
for the trucks to be parked in. There is also a small kitchen right beside the meeting room where
sometimes they will make dinner before certain meetings, usually only a few times a year
though. So this is the basic overview of what Oakboro Fire Department looks like and where it’s
located. [I put this paragraph into my mini ethnography to give the audience of my paper a
better understanding of what Oakboro VFD looks like and where it is located.]
For the first observation that I did of Oakboro Fire Department, I chose to do it on
November 3rd. This was the first of the two monthly meetings that Oakboro has during each
month, which are always on the first and third Thursday’s each month. The meetings are always
scheduled to start at seven p.m. as well. I had already asked a member there if it was okay for
me to sit in on the meeting and observe and write down some things, which of course they said
was fine to do. So when I got there I didn’t have to worry about getting permission to write
Beatty 3
down things from the meeting or them not knowing I was going to. When I got there for my first
observation, it was right at 6:50 p.m. when I arrived. I wanted to get there about ten minutes
early so I could be sure that I could get a seat in the back where I wouldn’t be in anybody’s way.
There wasn’t many people here yet, only about five to six members so far; I figured this is
because it is still ten minutes till it is supposed to start anyways. At 6:55, I had gone to the back
to get a seat at one of our back tables. When you walk into our meeting room, it has two rows of
tables in it, and both the rows have four tables going back in them. All of the tables have four
chairs sitting at them, so there’s plenty of room still at this point. There is also one table that is
at the front, and it is turned to where it faces all the other tables. This table is for our Chief and
Assistant Chief to sit during the meetings, which they are already here for the meeting and at the
table. Several more members are staring to walk in right now since it is getting closer to seven.
At 7:00, they still had not started the meeting yet, but the Chief and Assistant Chief were talking
to each other. Maybe a minute or two after 7:00, the Chief stood up and said they were going to
start the meeting. He said that he didn’t start right at seven because he was going to see if
anybody else was coming and was just a little bit late. There was one person that walked in as he
was saying this, so I guess he was right about waiting a little bit. There were 14 members at the
meeting at this point, but counting the Chief and Assistant Chief there is 16 people there.
Judging from the meetings that I have been to before this, this is around the average turnout for
normal meetings that we have. At 7:15, the Chief and Assistant Chief several upcoming events
scheduled for the department. One of the events is a fall festival at the local elementary school,
Oakboro Elementary. The school is asking for a few members to show up and bring a fire truck
with them as well. The school wants them to assist with parking, but the truck also gives the
kids something to look at as well. They ask if anybody will be able to go on that night, and there
Beatty 4
is a few members that say they can do it. The Chief’s also mention that there are several
upcoming training classes scheduled; most of the classes are at other departments, but the classes
are open to all departments so that’s why they are telling everybody. Some of the classes are
medical responder classes while a few are fire classes. At 7:30, the Chief and Assistant Chief
start going over the call’s that the department has received since the last meeting. Most of the
calls that they say were for medical reasons, but there is one call that is a false alarm fire
activation, and also one minor wreck on the list of calls that they call out. When they go over
calls that we received, they would generally talk about things that went on at the call and also
responding members that went on the call and how many went. The chiefs also start talking
about some of the tools that are on the trucks and that some have been move to different trucks
and a couple have been replaced. They said they are mentioning this because they want to be
sure everyone knows where to find something if it is needed at a call. At around 8:00 p.m., the
chiefs say that the meeting part is almost over and ask if anybody has any questions or has
anything they want to say first. One person asks about the training were supposed to do tonight
and what we’re doing, but that’s all. They say were going to be looking at rescue tools and how
to properly operate them. So we all start going out into the bays at the station where all of the
trucks are parked and the equipment is. We go out to the bays because the tools are on the trucks
and there more room to get them and look at them. Some of the officers in the department start
getting the different tools off the trucks, because they have all used them before and know a lot
about them. They start describing the use of each tool to us, some are used for cutting, some for
spreading metal, and some for lifting heavy objects. These tools are hydraulic tools, so they
require a pump and hydraulic lines hooked up to them in order for them to work. So they show
us how to hook everything up and get it started working. By now it’s around 9:15, and we have
Beatty 5
finished looking the training and looking at the tools and are putting them back on the trucks.
The chief’s say we are pretty much done for the night and some of the members are starting to
leave now. This is when I also had my interview with a member of the department that I had
asked. We went into the meeting room where we could sit down at a table while I asked him
questions.
Question #1. What made you decide to be a member in Oakboro Volunteer Fire Department?
Member: I wanted to join Oakboro Volunteer Fire Department because I have always lived in
Oakboro and I wanted to help out my community.
Question #2. How long have you been a member in the department?
Member: I have been a member in the department for 18 years now.
Question #3. Do you know how many members are in the department?
Member: We have around 35 members here.
Question #4. How did you get your start in the fire department?
Member: I was interested in joining so I decided come talk to the chief that was here at that time,
and I turned in an application.
Question #5. What do you have to do to become a member here?
Member: The first thing that you have to do is get an application and turn it in. Then you have to
come to at least three meetings, and then the members will vote on you.
Question #6. What is your job outside Oakboro Volunteer Fire Department?
Beatty 6
Member: I’m actually a professional fire fighter in Charlotte Fire Department.
Question #7. How long have you worked at Charlotte Fire Department?
Member: This is my 11th year working with them.
[I wasn’t really sure how else I could include my interview in my paper other than just type it
like I did, so this is how I decided to do it. My interview was 7 question long, which I thought
was good enough to find out some information on the certain member that I interviewed from the
department.]
After conducting my interview, I could tell that the member that I interviewed really
enjoyed being involved in the fire department. He not only enjoyed being in Oakboro’s, bu the
is also a career firefighter in the city of Charlotte’s fire department. Since he is dedicated to
doing both, I could tell that’s really what he wanted to do every day for a job and also for a
volunteer for his home community as well. He took a lot of pride as well for Oakboro since he
grew up here since he was little and likes being able to help out his community he lives in.
The second observation that I did of Oakboro Volunteer Fire Department was on
November 17th, the third Thursday of the month. It starts at 7:00 p.m. like usual, and I pull into
the parking lot at around 6:53. Once again I get here a few minutes early so that I can get a seat
in the back of the meeting room so I won’t be distracting anybody. There is also five other cars
in the parking lot at this time. At 7:00, I have already went in and found a seat and I am just
waiting for them to start the meeting. A few more people walked in a little bit before 7:00, and
there are a total of twelve people at the meeting, not counting me. The chief stand up and says
we are going to start the meeting. By 7:15, two more people walked in around 7:05, so there are
fourteen people here not counting me now. The chief tell us that tonight’s meeting is going to be
Beatty 7
a shorter one then then the first meeting because he wanted to start a training class tonight along
with the meeting. He says that we are going to start a ventilation class and that the instructor will
be here around 7:30, so he say until then we are going to go over the calls we received since the
last meeting we had. We haven’t had any fire calls but we have had several EMS medical calls
and also several wrecks also. It didn’t take long to go over the calls since we hadn’t had that
many so we were done with the calls before 7:30. The instructor for the ventilation class that is
starting now arrived at 7:35, and he was carrying a laptop computer and a folder with a few
papers in it. He introduces himself and tells us he is a firefighter in the Kannapolis Fire
Department, so he is also a paid firefighter. He starts setting up his computer because he says the
first few night of the class we be looking at a slideshow he has for the ventilation class. After he
finishes setting up his computer its around 7:45, and he says we are going to start the class now.
He starts going through the slides and the first few that he goes over are just a basic introduction
into ventilation and what its purpose is during a fire. At 8:45, we have been looking through the
slide the instructor has for us for about an hour now, so he tells us to take a five minute break and
be back in here to go over some more slides after the break. Some of the people get up and walk
outside for a few minutes, while some stay in their seats and talk to people around them for the
five minutes. The instructor goes up to our chief and talks to him during the break till the five
minutes is up, and everybody starts making their way back into the meeting room and to their
seats. At 8:50 we start back going over slides and there telling us about the two types of
ventilation and how they are done. A few people ask him some questions about one slide, and
they talk about it for several minutes while the instructor explains what he’s talking about. By
9:30, the instructor says that’s all the slides that we are looking at tonight and were going to end
class for the day. He tell us that the next night of the class will be on Tuesday the 22nd, starting
Beatty 8
at 7:00. The instructor starts to pack up all of his things and put his computer up so he can leave,
and several other people start to leave as well. I also leave about 9:35, because there are only a
couple members still there just talking anyways.
So this is what I wrote about for my mini ethnography and what I observed during my
observations of the group. Oakboro Fire Department isn’t that big of a fire department compared
to some others, but all the members there know each other since its small to. During my
observations, everyone I seen got along with each other very well, I never seen anybody arguing
or disagreeing about anything while I was there.
Everybody also respects our Chief and
Assistant Chief also, they listen to what they say and ask them to do without questioning them.
The member know they are doing what’s best for the department so everybody listens to what
they say and how they want us to do things. I think this is good that it is like this and I think that
it makes our entire department better as well because of it. So this is some of the things that I
learned during my observations of Oakboro Volunteer Fire Department. [In my conclusion, I
was basically just trying to sum up what all I talked about in the body of my paper. I was also
telling about some of the things that I learned while writing this paper as well.]
Beatty 9
q
Beatty 10
Beatty 11
Beatty 12
Beatty 13