Meet Your Neighbor: Chris Korbas ends 40 years of volunteer service for the City of Shelby

SHELBY — Fighting fires requires bravery and a thirst for excitement. While some firefighters are paid, volunteer firefighters are needed more than ever.

Meet your neighbor, Chris Korbas, a recently retired 40-year volunteer firefighter with the Shelby Fire Department. Korbas became a volunteer firefighter along with one of his best friends in 1984.

“I just retired last month,” Korbas said. “We stayed for a long time.”

The majority of firefighters in Ohio are volunteers, and there is a critical shortage, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. Shelby, like other urban and rural communities across the state, is in need of more volunteer firefighters to help keep its citizens safe.

Korbas said serving as a volunteer firefighter sometimes begins with a thought like, “Hey, I want to try something different, something exciting." There’s plenty of excitement on a fire run, but he said it's probably a little bit more than most people want.

The motivation to serve others has been a source of pride.

“Either a fire, car wreck, or squad run where you just go help,” said Korbas.

Fire service professionals, paid or volunteer, must be open to direction while remaining on call 24 hours a day. Each volunteer has a radio to know where they need to go when a call comes.

“They set the tones off and we’d respond wherever they needed help,” Korbas said.

Modern technology is “all about safety” during emergencies, he said. Even volunteer firefighters like those in Shelby must go through regular training. Korbas said there's a 36-hour course followed by training every month. Those trainings keep volunteers current with certifications to remain compliant with laws. The 36-hour course would be paid for by the city.

Being a volunteer firefighter often requires a day job. Korbas was a sewer foreman for the City of Shelby for nearly 24 years.

He was raised by his father in Shelby with two sisters. A single parent, Korbas has two sons, 30 and 28.

“My youngest boy, Kody, lives in Chicago; he’s a flight attendant,” Korbas said. “My other son, Konnor, works for the City of Shelby Water Department."

While raising his sons, working and volunteering with the fire department, Korbas also regularly golfed. After retiring from the City of Shelby, he returned to working full-time at Lloyd Rebar Co. in quality control about a 1½ years ago.

The strong bonds between volunteers and the paid professional staff are a big reason Korbas remained as a volunteer firefighter for 40 years.

“You could call it like a brotherhood. They’re counting on us to show up, we count on them,” he said.

If you're interested in becoming a Shelby volunteer firefighter, visit shelbycity.oh.gov , where you can find an application.

Meet Your Neighbor is a weekly series profiling people in Richland County and surrounding areas. Correspondent Joe Di Lullo can be reached at muckrack.com/dilulloj or jp.dilullo0926@gmail.com .

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Meet Your Neighbor: Chris Korbas ends 40 years of volunteer service for the City of Shelby