Each time the fire siren goes off in Stanley, Michael Hullett begins to worry.
The Stanley Fire Department assistant chief's main concern, however, doesn't center around how he'll battle a house fire. Instead, he worries about who will show up, and if there will be enough firefighters to get the job done.
"That's the number one thing going through my mind," said Hullett, a firefighter since 1994. "Who's coming and where are they coming from and how many people are they going to bring?"
Hullett knows his problem isn't an isolated one. Fire agencies across the country that use volunteers are struggling to field a work force.
"Immediately I'm thinking, I've got to get more people coming. The next closest staffed (department) is Mount Holly, so I'm calling them to see if they can send people. I'm calling Dallas to see if they can send people."
The department added a 24-hour position in January, ensuring a paid firefighter will be on shift at all hours of the night. This means no longer do volunteers have to get dressed, drive to the station and then take a fire engine to a call.
The addition has helped reduce night-time response times to an average of 4 minutes and 13 seconds, Hullett said, down from 11:36 as recently as 2016.
Stanley Fire Department missed seven calls last year because it didn't have anybody working to take them.
The department currently has 30 firefighters, 23 of them career firefighters working part-time shifts. Seven fight fires for free, at least 13 fewer volunteers than Hullett would prefer to have signed up for duty.
To join the ranks, a candidate must have a high school diploma, a clean background check and an active driver's license. Then they must complete several hundred hours of training on their own time, which takes at least several months to accomplish.
"Realistically if we had 20 good, dependable active volunteers, I would be ecstatic," Hullett said. "I think that'll be hard to achieve because people just don't want to do it."
Hullett has put signs up across town trying to lure volunteers. He also offers a benefits package in an effort to stand out among departments that also staff volunteers.
Those who volunteer at Stanley Fire Department have an option to pay $120 annually into a pension that would pay $170 per month after a firefighter turns 55, provided they put into it for 20 years. They also receive free life insurance, gap insurance and get paid a stipend based on the numbers of calls they take.
Hullett will ask for another 24-hour position for next year's budget. Such a position, paying $12 an hour, costs $105,000 to create.
He anticipates the department hiring a part-time chief in the coming weeks, but stresses unless more volunteers step up, fire departments everywhere are in trouble.
"I worry constantly that something will happen and we can't take care of that emergency and that's why it's important to have people working in this fire station," he said.
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