If a fire alarm goes off at th Hallmark Metamora (Illinois) Fixture Operations, the local fire department is already there. That’s because three trained members of the Metamora Volunteer Fire Department are Hallmark employees—and you can’t get a faster response time than that.

Don Adams, Daryl McCullough and John Evans are all veteran firefighters on the village’s 25-member volunteer crew. McCullough has 21 years in the fire department, and Evans is going on five years. Adams, a carpenter with 13 years in the department, says his fire and rescue experience serve Hallmark well with its safety-conscious work environment. And he credits Hallmark as an important ally of the fire department and other community nonprofit organizations.

“They’re not only accepting of our work with the fire department, they encourage it,” he says. “Any time we get a call, we go.”

With a population of about 2,700, the village of Metamora in north central Illinois relies on trained volunteers in cases of fire and rescue emergencies. It’s a duty the community and Hallmark take seriously. All three men carry fire department pagers, and when the pagers go off, these Hallmark employees become firefighters. The Metamora department averages about 10 calls a month. But, Adams says, the monthly training, regular fire schools and real-life experiences help make the firefighters better everyday employees, too.

“We’re trained to be aware,” he explains. “We’re more apt to see problems and know how to respond.”

And in those cases when fire alarms have gone off at the Fixture Operations, Hallmark has benefitted. “We can check things out immediately while staying in contact with the fire department,” Adams says. “What we might encounter in our building would probably be something we’ve seen before. So what’s good for the community is good for Hallmark, too.”

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