ROYAL CITY - John Klefbeck volunteered with Grant County Fire Districts Nos. 10/11 about six years ago and took the course to become an EMT.

Klefbeck brought with him fluency in the Spanish language. It has been of great assistance and also makes for some light moments.

"Occasionally a patient who is a native Spanish-speaker will not realize that I am actually speaking to them in good Spanish," Klefbeck said. "It's totally unexpected."

"Once I assumed a patient native to India was Hispanic," he added. "He did not speak or understand Spanish, but English worked fine."

Klefbeck notes that some of the Hispanic community also speaks the native languages of their home villages.

"I understand the Spanish spoken around me," he said. "It's interesting to hear a language I expect to be Spanish that I don't understand. For some of these people, Spanish is their second language, and English their third."

Klefbeck has volunteered for other things over the years, but this is his first time with an ambulance or fire department.

"I was very appreciative of those who responded when my extended family lost a member," he said. "Then I saw a letter or article in the local paper expressing the need for volunteers for our ambulance, especially those who spoke Spanish. That pushed me to call. There was an EMT class ready to start, so I jumped in."

Klefbeck's most interesting call was a motor vehicle accident. The car had crossed a gravel road and ended up in a canal.

"It must have been on remote control because there was no driver and no passengers at the scene," he said.

The worst call was a multi-fatality incident involving children.

"More volunteers would be a great help," he said. "We only have a small core of people able to respond to calls. We get stretched too thin."

One frustration, especially on Highway 26, Klefbeck said, is motorists not yielding to emergency vehicles.

"Recently one vehicle we met pulled over as we approached," he said. "The car following pulled into our lane to go around it. The police officer following us turned around and had a ticket-writing party."