Welcome to the Glendale Fire Department Crisis Response Program

Hello and thank you for visiting the Glendale Fire Department’s Crisis Response Website. My name is Karla Houston and it is my pleasure to coordinate this program.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the commitment and hard work of every CR Volunteer in the GFD CR Program. While I cannot possibly list all the individual accomplishments that take place on a daily basis, I do want to thank specifically our members that have dedicated their precious time to the CR Program and to the Glendale Fire Department.

As you may know, we ask our members to begin their volunteer service with 50 hours of classroom and 50 hours of practical training. Whether you are a medical student, lawyer, stay-at-home parent, retired, social worker or testing for a Fire Department, our training is unique in its efforts. The crisis intervention courses we offer are university-level classes. Upon completion of their training, active Volunteers are required to contribute 24 hrs. each month on our Crisis Response Units. Most of our Volunteers choose to do well over that number! What attributes do such a high quality of people hold?

Let me paraphrase a poem that hangs in our CR Office and probably says it best:

There are those who get paid for this . . .
And there are those who volunteer!
There are those who sleep in their own beds at night . . .
And there are those of you . . . who sleep here!
At two in the morning . . . when you’re so sound asleep . . .
You hear the dreadful pager go off . . .
With it’s…………………BEEP . . . BEEP . . . BEEP
You want to stay in bed . . . cozy as can be . . .
But without your skill and dedication . . .
Where would the sad & frightened people be?
Whether it’s helping those in sorrow or
Teaching others to do the same . . .
You hold yourself accountable,
Tho most don’t know your name.
You sacrifice your time because you care
When others are hurting so . . .
Why else would you keep coming back . . .
You’ve got a better place to go.
Whether it’s holding a child’s hand,
Or saying it will be okay, or dealing
With your own emotions cuz you’re
Not sure you helped someone that day.
People on the outside have no clue
Exactly what it is you do.
But when the hard times truly came . . .
Those sad and worried people
Became the ones that really knew.

Glendale CR Volunteers are all true heroes . . . Giving meaning to unselfishness And I feel it’s a great honor to be working with the best.

If you are considering volunteering, please fill out an application and e-mail it to me at the email address below. If you are just looking for information, do not hesitate to call me. Good luck in your endeavors, and I’m hoping we’ll meet one day soon.

Karla Houston, MAPC
Crisis Response Coordinator
Glendale Fire Department
Office: 623-930-4220
E-mail: KHouston@GlendaleAZ.com