by Nicole DeLawder | weekend@thehudsonvalleynews.com

During the holidays, it’s important to look around and appreciate the people surrounding us. Sometimes those people are not in our immediate vision, but are always there when we need them.

“Volunteer firefighters make up over 70% of all firemen in the United States,” said Zach Thompson of EZ Productions. “These guys aren’t paid to do any of it.”

Thompson said Millbrook Fire Chief Rich Shankman “wanted to do a show about volunteer firemen and small-town life as a whole.”

Filmed at the Millbrook Fire Department, “FireWatch” uses volunteers and actors to portray stories based on actual events.

An upcoming episode will focus on events surrounding a local barn fire, and the crew’s Halloween episode featured some of the myths surrounding Millbrook.

“The department is all in on doing this with us,” Thompson explained. “It’s a fictional docu-drama, where a lot of the firemen in the show are playing themselves to a point.”

With three episodes under their belt, the crew will be splitting the next episode into a two-part series.

Each online episode ranges from 10-15 minutes, but the last episodes “will cover any lose ends that have been led up to in the storyline.”

Along with the volunteer firefighters, including Shankman as a main character, local actors have joined the roster. Millbrook’s own Nick Rinehart, who studied acting at NYU, plays the department’s newest rookie.

“They really enjoy what they do,” Thompson said. “They are all really good friends. It’s just a really good environment of people.”

“FireWatch” has “affected the Millbrook Fire Department in a positive way,” Thompson notes. “I think a lot of people want to be there now.

“These guys are always there for the unexpected,” he added.

Watch episodes of “FireWatch”

on Facebook: www.facebook.com/FireWatchEpisodes

and YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/FireWatchEpisodes.