First responders’ jobs are much the same from one day to the next, but many who will work Thanksgiving Day are probably going to eat turkey, too, this Thursday.

For example, at the Butler Fire Department four unmarried firefighters, or those without children, will work that day, said Nick Ban, fire chief.

Usually, the firefighters handle nine or 10 calls, and they cook themselves Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, compliments of Denny Offstein, who gives them a gift certificate for food.

But this year, the firefighters are saving the certificate for Christmas, Ban said. They’ve accepted an invitation from St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in Butler, which will deliver Thanksgiving dinner to the firefighters on duty.

In return, the firefighters donated five turkeys to St. Peter Church.

“We want to make sure everyone in need is fed before we are,” Ban said. “The community is very nice to us, and we’d like to give back.”

St. Peter parishioners deliver Thanksgiving dinners to more than 900 Butler County residents, said Susan Cadwallader, a pastoral associate. Three hundred more people will eat at the church, where hundreds of volunteers will cook and serve 100 turkeys and all the trimmings.

“We start cooking turkeys at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning and put the last turkey in at 3 p.m.,” Cadwallader said. “We have 35 roasters going.”

Steve Bicehouse, director of Butler County Emergency Services, said four or five employees will manage that office on Thanksgiving Day.

“Calls don’t go down on the holiday,” Bicehouse pointed out. “There might be a slight uptick.”

About 100 calls a day require fire, police or ambulance dispatches, Bicehouse said.

Although the emergency services department does not provide Thanksgiving dinner for staff members, they themselves often coordinate one, he said.

At the county prison, 364 prisoners will be offered turkey dinners, as will the corrections officers who will be on duty when it’s served. Sixty officers will work over the three shifts Thursday.

“We do normally get (soda) pop orders on Thanksgiving,” said Rick Shaffer, warden, who said soft drinks are a special treat for prisoners, who only get to drink it five times a year, on holidays.

“I guess the inmates will just sit around and watch football like everybody else,” Shaffer said.

Lance Neigh, a prison corrections officer, who will work Thursday, said inmates, like the general public, have more depression and possible suicide attempts during the holidays, so officers watch prisoners for any problems.

“A lot of (inmates) have kids and they’re away from home,” Neigh said. “Or their wives are short of money to buy a turkey or presents.”

Inmates and officers will be offered the same meal, which Neigh calls “turkey-ish.”

He missed Thanksgiving dinners with his family for nine years when he worked the 3 to 11 p.m. shift at the prison, but this year he’ll go to his mother’s house for dinner.

Steve Evanko, a lieutenant with the Butler Police Department, has missed Thanksgiving dinner with his family for the past 23 years, but he will be attending this year.

“(Thanksgiving Day at work is) really not a lot different than any other day,” Evanko said. “There is no Thanksgiving for the guys who work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. They leave before anybody’s up and when they get home, there are leftovers.”

At the same time, the job has changed some now that more stores offer Black Friday specials beginning at midnight.

“Really, our biggest concern is traffic,” he said.

Traffic also is a concern for the Cranberry Township police, said Chuck Mascellino, a sergeant with the township police there.

It’s too soon to see a trend, he said, but it’s clear that more traffic will go through Cranberry than in the past, before Black Friday sales began on Thanksgiving Day.

Meanwhile, the Cranberry police officers’ turkey dinners will be provided by a Kiwanis Club.