Busy Fire Departments Cope Wth Fewer Volunteers

April 19, 2010— -- Nationwide, volunteer fire departments are responding to more calls but with fewer volunteers.

Since 1984, the number of volunteer firefighters in the United States has declined by more than 8 percent, while the number of calls to fire departments has more than doubled since 1986, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council.

"It just seems to be an overall trend across the country, of departments struggling with getting new volunteers in," said Kimberly Ettinger, director of communications for the council.

For many small and medium-size communities, volunteers serve as the first line of defense during an emergency. As volunteer fire departments dwindle in size, many have been asked to do more with less.

"The main concern is safety," said volunteer firefighter Lou Szitar of the Clay Fire Department in Clay, N.Y, a suburb of Syracuse. "You don't want to jeopardize the firefighter by trying to overextend what they can do. You want to make sure that they're protected when responding."

As older firefighters retire, fire departments struggle to find younger volunteers to replace them.

"The challenge is quite simply recruitment of people who are willing to take the time to get the certification it takes to be a firefighter today," said Michael Hunt, chief of the Clearwater Volunteer Fire Department in Beech Island, S.C., an Aiken County township of about 4,000 people.

About 19 miles from Beech Island in Belvedere, S.C., Assistant Chief Todd Durance of the Belvedere Fire Department also has a recruiting problem, and sees it as a twofold challenge: People are busy, and training is more demanding, said Durance, explaining that South Carolina requires volunteers to complete 300 hours to become become certified.

"People are very career-oriented now," said Justin Ianzito, another Clay Fire Department volunteer. "I know once they find a job, giving back isn't a top priority," even though volunteer firefighting can require less of a commitment than many potential recruits believe.

"A lot of people have a misconceived notion that you're spending a hundred hours a week out there," said Ianzito. "In a department like this," which numbers about 40 volunteers, "it could be three or four days when you don't run a call."

Daniel Ford, Clay Fire Department's chief, recalls a very different scenario when he signed on as a Clay firefighter more than 30 years ago. "When I first joined in 1978, we had 75 active members and a waiting list," he said. "You had to wait until somebody quit."

But times have changed. Ford said he would like to have 60 volunteers to cover the department's 20-square mile district and 60,000 residents, and falls about 20 short of that.

"As the district continues to grow, that just creates more work -- more alarms for us," said Ford. "I mean, [the number of calls] are not going down. That's for sure."