Seventy-three percent of the nation's firefighters are volunteers and are becoming harder and harder to find, putting their lives, and yours, at risk, NBC 4 's Kyle Anderson reported.
Ron Davis is chief of the Clearcreek Township Fire Department, based in Stoutsville, population 581, about six miles east of Circleville in southwestern Fairfield County.
The firehouse was built block by block by its first crew about 40 years ago. As recently as 15 years ago, Davis said, their biggest problem was getting water to a fire.
"No longer a problem with volunteer fire departments. Now, we're getting everything we need there, except the personnel," Davis said.
He's far from alone, Anderson reported. The number of volunteer firefighters is on a decline in Ohio and nationwide, from 880,000 in 1984 to 780,000 in 2001.
As personnel numbers decrease, the calls to U.S. fire departments have increased. According to National Fire Protection Association, there were 11 million calls in 1983 and more than 17 million in 1996. That's a 60 percent increase, Anderson reported.
In Ohio, the state fire marshal's office estimates the number of volunteers in Ohio has dropped from 34,000 to 30,000 over the past decade.
Volunteer departments are feeling the crunch.
"You expect to come down, get in your vehicle, have a full crew and be able to respond, and times that you don't. It is aggravating," Davis said.
Frank Conway, superintendent of the Ohio Fire Academy, says the 36 hours of training required to become a volunteer firefighter could be to blame.
"We're seeing about a 20 percent decline in the number of volunteers, and that's nationwide," Conway said.
Conway said that people also work father away from home, which typically also puts them farther away from the firehouse.
"They have to understand that when the tones drop and there's a fire run and they miss that family dinner or that family outing or that church social or the school play, that they're doing so because they're helping the community," Conway said.
For Clearcreek Township, recruiting is an ongoing process.
"We're always recruiting, trying to get new people," Davis said.
Davis said they would like to have a roster of 30. Two years ago, they were down to 15. Now, they're back up to 25.
Davis cautiously hopes they'll be able to keep those numbers up.
"If we end up going back down to 15 or even 10, the doors will stay open," Davis said.
If a department is short staffed, thanks to mutual aid contracts, it can rely on neighboring departments for help.
More Resources:
2006 OFA Course Offerings Columbus Division of Fire State Fire Marshals Fire Council Fact Sheet (PDF) The Fire Protection Research FoundationCopyright 2006 by nbc4i.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
