Before the United States was founded, the spirit of volunteering was already taking hold in the colonies.

Today, Americans give more of their time than citizens of any other country.

During this national volunteer month, our Judy Woodruff set out to explore how this tradition started

and why it remains such a defining part of the nation's identity.

It's part of her series, America at a crossroads.

The Patagonia All Volunteer Fire Department has been a fixture of this small Arizona border town for 102 years.

Its firefighters cover 333 miles of surrounding land, fighting every fire that comes their way,

while also providing vital emergency medical services to the largely rural mining and ranching

community.

I think you find a lot of volunteers just, they look and they say, someone ought to do that,

and then they say, well, I'm someone.

I'm going to do it.

Zay Hardigan is the fire chief here.

Just the jacket here is a pretty heavy item.

Overseeing 35 other volunteers who are following what it turns out is a long American tradition.

In 1736, founding father Benjamin Franklin established the first formally organized volunteer

fire brigade in the colonies.

The Union Fire Company in Philadelphia had 26 members and would become a model for how

fires in the new nation would be fought.

Today, at least 65 percent of firefighters in the United States are still volunteers.

The rates of volunteering are.

Elizabeth Clemens of the University of Chicago studies the roots of volunteerism and the way volunteer groups

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