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The Heavy Price of Leadership: One Fire Chief’s Impossible Choice

A Voice of Calm in Chaos

Jarrod Emes spent years as the steady anchor for Berks County’s emergency responders. Dispatchers and firefighters relied on his measured tone over the radio—a promise that order would prevail in the chaos. But that calm came at a cost.

Behind the scenes, a silent battle raged. Missed meals piled up. Family dinners vanished. Weekend plans dissolved into thin air. Weeknights vanished into paperwork and training drills. And while Emes led his squad of 25 volunteers, his own business teetered on the edge of collapse. The firehouse never closed. The pager never stopped.

The Breaking Point

The final reckoning arrived when his son moved from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Emes realized too late the hours he sacrificed at the firehouse had cost him birthdays, school plays, and quiet moments that couldn’t be reclaimed. The small sacrifices—each reasonable alone—had amassed into something unbearable.

By December, he made the hardest call of his career: resignation. Effective at the start of the new year, he stepped down from leadership, leaving a void that would be difficult to fill.

The Next Generation Steps Up

The Union Fire Company No. 1 of Hamburg, one of the oldest volunteer departments in the region, now faces a leadership crisis. Not everyone is lining up to take the helm. But in a historic shift, Emes’s sister, Bethany Thren, stepped forward to become one of the first women to lead the storied company.

Her appointment marks more than a personal milestone—it reflects a changing landscape in volunteer fire service, where tradition meets the urgent need for new leadership.

The System Is Broken

Emes’s departure isn’t just personal—it’s a symptom of a deeper crisis. Volunteer fire departments were built for a different era. Today, warehouses sprawl across former farmland. New subdivisions rise overnight. Emergency calls surge, but volunteers can’t keep up.

While Emes answered hundreds of calls a year, life’s basic tasks—mowing the lawn, fixing the fence, organizing the garage—remained perpetually on hold. The fire chief’s role had expanded beyond capacity. It was no longer sustainable.

"The system is stretched too thin," Emes said. "And someone has to say it’s time to step back."

For him, that time had come.