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Allie Love Pours Her Heart Into Local Fire, Rescue Operationsby KRISTEN ARMSTRONG, Staff Writer |
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| If you've ever had an
emergency, volunteer Allie Love of the Middleburg Volunteer Fire
Department may have come to your rescue. Love moved to Middleburg in 1990 to live near her sister, and through the influence of former Mayor Carol Bowersock and her twin sister Frances, who were both longtime fire-and-rescue volunteers, Love “got sucked into” volunteering as well. “It's absolutely indisputable that people need fire and rescue,” Love said in a recent interview. “I've become part of the community. I care about the community and the people in it.” Currently, Love is president of the Middleburg Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, which has approximately 32 volunteers. She has held numerous other positions over the past 17 years, including time as rescue chief. The volunteers Love oversees come from very varied backgrounds, and reconciling their differences sometimes poses a challenge. But when a situation requires teamwork, Love said the volunteers step up to the plate. “There is a sense of camaraderie here,” she said. “We come from all walks of life, from bank tellers to farm hands, but at a car wreck, we all work together.” Love devotes up to five hours a day at the department (one month she volunteered 256 hours). Additionally, she is volunteer Emergency Medical Services battalion chief for Loudoun County, does consulting work for non-profit organizations, and teaches Emergency Medical Technician training courses. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the Middleburg Volunteer Fire Department has kept Love extra busy. “We are just beginning a major campaign to renovate,” she said. The 30-year-old fire-and-rescue building will cost approximately $4.75 million to revamp, a funding project that the county government will support. But while the renovations are done, the volunteers will move temporarily into a soon-to-be-built facility that eventually will serve as a community events hall. Love is spearheading the fund-raising efforts for the new building's projected cost of $1.87 million. Even though Love's volunteering doesn't give her much time to relax, she said she finds satisfaction in the work “It defines you. People certainly look up to fire-and-rescue personnel,” Love said. “It feels good to make something better in a crisis.” |
 Allie Love has been a volunteer with the Middleburg Volunteer Fire Department for 17 years. As this year’s department president, she is in charge of raising funds for the community events hall where volunteers will move temporarily, while the fire and rescue building is being renovated. (Photo by Kristen Armstrong) |