Those Tricky Volunteer Firefighters

I wish I had a picture of this but of course I don't. In LaVale, Maryland, a "suburb" of Cumberland, the volunteer fire department their converted a large part of their station into a "Fireman's Casino." At least that's what the sign says.

Driving by at night is the best view. They removed the large door that would cover the parking area for the fire truck and replaced it with glass windows, full-length and width of the former door. Inside are brightly lit slot machines and other neon signs. ( I won't even ask where they park the fire truck now.)

I guess these are not real slot machines but machines that give you a paper ticket which may have winning numbers on them. This paper ticket allows the machines to operate in Maryland. Maryland allows any form of gambling as long as there is a paper ticket involved.

So why on Earth would the fire station give up their only truck bay for a casino? I guess that's how they make their money. The other more popular way is with bars. Bars that serve alcohol of course.

The law in Maryland allows fire stations to operate a bar, presumably without a license, as long as they are operating the bar for a special event. As you can imagine, every night is a special event.

As a result, these fire stations, most if not all are volunteer stations, become the hub of the community, a place where you can sit around, shoot the bull with friends and drink beer. You can also run put out a fire if your sober enough.

I don't know about you, but not being a Maryland native, that strikes me as a bit odd and incongruous. Firefighters running bars and casinos? Volunteer or not, it just seems odd.

But back to the casino, gambling in Western Maryland is pretty popular. They have things called tip jars and 50/50 games where you put in some money and at the end of the night there is a drawing of some kind and you get all the money. It happens all over, bars, restaurants, children's soccer games.

I don't totally agree with gambling and I don't really like how pervasive it is in this area. I think all of this would have been illegal in Ohio where I grew up. I must admit though, that I did win $120 in one of these 50/50 games.