The association is a network of firefighters from eight municipalities and 15 organizations that have pooled resources to overcome budget and manpower shortages. "The citizens get served better and cost-effectively," said Fred Bales, chief of the Greenfield Fire Department and member of the association. "We're just trying to remove the political boundaries and get together as a group."
There are aid associations across the county like the upper Lackawanna association that have formed in recent years because of budgetary pressures and a manpower shortage for volunteer firefighters. And while the associations have created greater communication and coordination among fire companies, the issues that have brought these associations together linger.
"Funding, availability of volunteers and retention of volunteers are our big challenges," said Chuck Molinaro, chief of the Greenwood Hose Company in Moosic and member of the Lower Lackawanna County Mutual Aide Association, "It's becoming increasingly difficult to compete with everything else out there."
Chief Molinaro said this year the Greenwood Hose Company has had one new recruit, a University of Scranton student from Maryland with previous firefighting experience.
The Moosic hose company isn't alone in the shortage of recruits.
"We're lucky if we get one new younger member a year," said Joseph Chmielewski, chief of the Covington Fire Department. "Everybody's having the same problem."
Mr. Chmeilewski said the problem isn't limited to Northeastern Pennsylvania, but is endemic across the commonwealth, where 97 percent of all fire companies are volunteer, as well as nationally where the number of volunteer firefighters has dropped as the number of calls received has risen.
"The way the economy is, people just don't have the time to support the local fire department," said Andrew Bistran, chief of the Jefferson Township Fire Company. "People have to work two jobs just to make ends meet, so they can't volunteer."
Sean Connelly, chief of the South Abington Fire Department, said the hose company begins recruiting new volunteers at the age of 14, but by the time the new recruits turn 18 and are old enough to fight fires, the company usually loses them to college.
"It has been difficult getting new members," he said. "There is a lot more now for the kids to get into at the younger ages."
To exacerbate the problem of recruiting and retention, Chief Molinaro said, volunteer companies are mostly financed by fund-raisers.
"The majority of the funding in this area that is necessary to make these organizations run is obtained by the organizations through fund-raising activities," he said. "You are relying on a limited number of people to respond, maintain training, do upkeep and raise funds. You are seeing more and more fire departments starting to struggle to meet their financial needs."
According to a study done by the bipartisan Center for Rural Pennsylvania, about three-fourths of the commonwealth's hose companies have budgets less than $100,000.
The aide associations are a way for firefighters to overcome the dual problems of a manpower shortage and low budgets.
"We rely on one another to cross respond to each other's communities," said Chief Molinaro. "You are driven to do it. You have a shortage of volunteers and a shortage of funding."
The groups also allow the hose companies to save money by buying equipment in bulk, coordinating grant applications and sharing equipment with one another.
But the solution has more of a Band-Aid feel to it than a long-term fix.
"We're doing everything we can to operate more effectively," Chief Bales said. "But we need more physical support. Everybody still has a need for more people."
Said Chief Molinaro, "I speak for all fire departments when I say 'Our doors are open.' Contact the fire stations. Sign onto our Web sites."
REID COPLOFF, a Sunday Times regional reporter, contributed to this report.
