BIG SPRINGS, Neb. — Volunteer fire and rescue departments nationwide, especially in rural areas, are struggling with declining membership, increased costs and changing attitudes toward a vocation with roots dating to the early 1700s.
State and federal lawmakers are taking action to help reverse the trend because volunteers are often the first responders to events ranging from floods to fires, and some say the shortage presents a looming crisis.
“In some communities out there, it’s the volunteer fire department or nothing,” said U.S. Fire Administrator Gregory Cade. “There’s not the economic base to support a career department. So if they can’t keep the volunteer fire department viable, then the potential exists that they’re not going to have any protection at all.”
Volunteer fire and rescue personnel represent 72 percent of the nation’s 1.1 million firefighters. More than 50 percent of volunteers are associated with departments that cover areas with populations of less than 2,500, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
Between 1984 and 2006, the number of volunteers nationwide fell by 8 percent, or nearly 74,000, according to information from the National Fire Protection Association.
During the same period, the number of emergency calls to paid and volunteer departments doubled. Volunteer chiefs say they’re busier than ever.
Fire officials blame the staffing decline on several factors, including increased family demands, employers who are less sympathetic toward community concerns, and regulations that require volunteers to take up to 200 hours worth of training.
“Your mom and your dad was in the fire service and their parents were in the fire service, and it just goes on from generation to generation,” said David Finger with the National Volunteer Fire Council. Now, as people move from one community to another, “people kind of lose that connection.”
“It makes you wonder where we’ll be 20 years from now.”
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