(TNS) - Always ready. Always there.

That’s the motto of the National Guard, and for 48 days — and counting — soldiers and airmen from this component of the military have been doing safety and relief work amid volcanic threats and destruction on the east side of Hawaii island.

(TNS) — It was just before 8 p.m. May 25, and Renae Coolidge was just hanging up her phone at the Frederick County Emergency Communications Center after helping a resident set up a burn permit. In the seat next to her, fellow 911 call-taker Kim Woolcock gave her a sympathetic smile, having just finished taking a similar call herself.

“There’s going to be a lot of those this week,” Woolcock said, explaining that a countywide burn ban will go into effect June 1 and last until Aug. 31, meaning that any farmers who need to burn waste would likely call in.