ACTON — A week ago, on a Sunday morning, Sharon Jackson was at home with her infant son, Wesley. There was a banging on the front door, and when she answered, it was a motorist who said her neighbor’s barn was on fire.

Jackson, a paramedic and the town’s assistant rescue chief, passed the baby to the motorist’s wife, ran inside to get her radio, called dispatch and rushed over to the neighbor’s home to help.

Her husband, Bryant Jackson, a volunteer with the fire department, was at the station when the call came in. He, along with other volunteers, soon found himself at the fire, fighting the blaze.

What about the baby? Well, Sharon’s sister obligingly stepped in to watch the young fellow while his parents pitched in to help their neighbors.

Sharon’s full-time job is paramedicine for a private ambulance company. Bryant works as a driver for a rescue department in a nearby town and is studying for his emergency medical technician license.

And while they both do some per diem work for the rescue and fire departments, they’re both committed volunteers.

Their lives and those of others like them ”“ working, raising a family and volunteering ”“ is part of the fabric of this rural community. Those in the wider York County first responder family, like Skip Dore of Southern Maine EMS, note that 85 to 90 percent of the county’s first responders are volunteers. And there’s always a need for more of them as the cost of living requires two paychecks ”“ frequently earned in towns and cities miles away from home ”“ which serves to limit the availability of volunteers. Figure in training time, and the commitment required escalates.

Acton’s emergency services are in transition ”“ working toward a consolidation of the fire department, which is a town department, and the private rescue operation.

Rescue Chief Jenny Sayre, who volunteers for the post full-time, estimated it takes twice as many volunteers to operate the rescue operation as it did a decade ago because of volunteers’ busy schedules.

Currently, she’s looking at developing a model for volunteers that might not have the availability or the desire to be an EMT, for example, but are willing to pitch in to help with other tasks, like minding children at the public safety building while the children’s parents are out making ambulance runs or fighting fires.

“We work on people’s strengths,” she said.

For Sharon, volunteering has been a way of life since she was about 14, helping out unofficially whenever she could. Her parents once owned a local general store and were also first responders. They’d come home at supper time from the store and then go running out the door, Sharon recalled, when the tones sounded.

“I was hooked,” she said. “I just loved it. I just knew that is was what I wanted to do.”

Jackson became a full”“time volunteer at age 18, got her EMT license and continued to volunteer when she was home from university, where she earned a teaching degree. Working as a teacher may be in her future, she said, but she’s still hooked by paramedicine. She’s done a stint overseas, working in Kuwait for a couple of years under contract for a private company that provided paramedic service on a U.S. military base there. Upon her return, she took a job with the private ambulance company and resumed her volunteer duties in Acton. One day, a guy she didn’t know signed on as the shift driver when she was the medic. The two began dating and love bloomed.

Her husband, Bryant, began volunteering after his teenage daughter was seriously injured as a passenger in a car crash. He said volunteering gives people in emergency situations reassurance that someone is coming to help them.

“For me, it’s personal,” Bryant said. “I know how I felt when my daughter needed help.”

“And its nice to give back,” Sharon said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324”“4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282”“1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.