Volunteer Fire and EMS duties vs. Jury Duty

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have been summoned for jury duty.

I know that my volunteer fire and EMS duties are valid reasons for excuse from jury duty under current state law.

On the one hand, I’ve got jury duty. We’re supposed to be all patriotic and supportive right now, so part of me says to serve and shut up.

On the other hand, I’ve got my community. People that are friends, family, neighbors, and total strangers that I’ve sworn to serve. In an extremely rural area. Any other fire fighters or EMS people reading this: When they mention “rural” tactics in your training sessions or seminars, the “rural” that they are referring to isn’t even close to the “rural” that is our reality. The size of our protection district is more than 300 square miles. I’ve administered CPR in a basket stretcher being pulled 10 miles through the woods by a snowmobile more than once because 10 miles was as close as the ALS ambulance could get to the scene. Our nearest ambulance service and hospital are 30 miles away, more than half of those miles are over gravel roads. The nearest neighboring fire department for mutual aid is 15 miles away. During the daytime hours, our membership available for response is severely limited. (People have jobs) From a full roster of 45, the number of people that are available for response on a somewhat regular basis is 4, and one of those 4 people is me.

I called the Court Administrator, and have been excused from jury duty.

And I can’t figure out why I feel so guilty about it.

2

Deej - I think you’re doing the right thing. There are a lot of people who want to get out of jury duty because they’re lazy, but you are a critical member of your community. As important as jury duty is, saving lives is much more so.

3

Deej,
Ask yourself this. How many people could serve as a fireman or EMT, and how many could serve on a jury. Lot more in the second group, aren’t there? You serve your community whenever you are on duty. What if there was a fire while you were in the jury box, and someone died since there was no one to save them? That exemption is there for a reason.