Yakima County, Wash. Fire Districts Face Dangerous Volunteer Shortage

Dec. 02--YAKIMA, Wash. -- When a fire broke out in a Wapato factory earlier this fall, the first fire engine arrived in seven minutes. A second followed eight minutes later, while the plant's sprinkler system held the flames at bay.

With more crews arriving within the hour, the fire was quickly controlled.

Eleven days later, a second fire broke out at the same Amtech fiberglass plant early on a Sunday.

At 1:18 a.m., Yakima County Fire District 5's dispatchers sent alarms to dozens of pagers for volunteer firefighters closest to the fire. Not a single fire truck rolled.

At 1:35 a.m., one of the district's full-time firefighters, Capt. Dave Martin, was the first to arrive, driving a command vehicle. He called for an engine from Union Gap, eight miles to the north. By then, dispatchers were already paging volunteers from stations farther away.

Finally, at 1:42 a.m. -- 23 minutes after the first alarm went out -- an engine from District 5's Wapato station pulled in. Martin still didn't have enough firefighters to directly attack the flames, which the plant's sprinklers were again keeping in check. Without those, the fire "would've probably taken out the majority of the building," he said.

A second engine didn't arrive until 1:55 a.m. -- 37 minutes after the first alert. Three more, including one from Union Gap, followed, and the fire was extinguished.

Hunting might be one reason so few volunteers responded. The fire broke out Oct. 27, the same day the modern firearm elk hunting season began, and many volunteers are avid hunters, Martin said.

Most of the time the fire district responds quickly and with ample manpower, but this wasn't the first time there have been problems, District 5 Chief Brian Vogel said.

Like hundreds of fire departments in Washington, Fire District 5 couldn't operate without volunteer firefighters. The district, which covers more than 700 square miles, has 15 full-time firefighters and 213 volunteers.

And like most fire departments in the state, it has seen the number of volunteers decline over the past decade while populations and emergency calls have increased. That means more work for fewer people, who already are giving up time they could otherwise be spending with families, at work or relaxing.

And while fire officials here and across the country say the system is holding together, they say service levels will suffer if current trends continue.

"It's very probable that some fire departments won't be meeting their target response times or their target level of service," said T.J. Nedrow, president of the Washington State Fire Fighters Association. He started as a volunteer firefighter in Selah in 1975 and now serves with Lacey Fire District 3.

"The worst case scenario is nobody shows up" for an emergency, Vogel said. "When you run a volunteer department, that's the risk you run, and you try to mitigate that risk."

Nationally, fire departments are doing whatever they can to deal with having fewer personnel and more calls. Many have launched campaigns to recruit volunteers and keep existing ones. Some have modified their firefighting tactics to make the most of limited resources.

Some dispatch centers, including Yakima County's 911 system and District 5, are directing non-emergency calls to nurse lines and private ambulance companies in an effort to reduce firefighters' workloads. Some departments are offering limited financial incentives to volunteers. Others, like East Valley Fire District, are adding more full-time firefighters to augment volunteers.

Statewide, volunteer firefighters have steadily declined by about 16 percent from 2001 to 2011, according to data analysis by the Yakima Herald-Republic. At the same time, fire officials say they are getting more calls than ever. Nationally, calls to fire companies rose by 35 percent between 2001 and 2010 -- the most recent year available. Similar data for Washington isn't readily available.

In Yakima County, volunteers dropped 12 percent from 2001 to 2011, while calls have increased by 22 percent and population rose roughly 10 percent. Fire District 5 is on pace to respond to about 2,730 calls this year, but that doesn't include hundreds of calls to assist neighboring fire departments. Only one of the county's 19 fire companies -- Yakima Fire Department -- has no volunteer firefighters. The rest depend on volunteers to fulfill their mission.

Basic training requirements are essentially the same for both volunteer and full-time firefighters. In most states, including Washington, volunteer recruits go through hundreds of hours of training in their first few months. Afterward, they're required to attend weekly or monthly and some weekend training events. Training covers highly specialized equipment and vehicles, fire behavior, hazardous materials, emergency medical treatment, vehicle extraction and wildland fire, and a range of other topics.

"It's a huge time commitment to serve your community," said Andy Babcock, a full-time firefighter running District 5's volunteer recruitment and retention campaign.

The district got a federal four-year grant to pay for the position, which was created last year. Before then, Babcock had been a volunteer for the district. Like most of his full-time colleagues, the 28-year-old still volunteers with two local city fire departments that partner with District 5.

Babcock is far from the only firefighter working on getting more volunteers. It's become a major focus for the firefighting industry, which has picked apart the subject in countless reports, studies, surveys and conferences in recent years. Babcock is drawing on the national conversation about volunteer recruitment and retention to find what fits best for the Lower Yakima Valley. While he is working toward both ends, he's emphasizing retention over recruitment because, he figures, the volunteers are the best tool he has to bring on new people.

"If your guys are enjoying it, they're going to be the best recruiters," Babcock said.

To that end, he is working to foster a greater sense of community within the district and to give volunteers a stronger sense of purpose. He organizes social events for members, puts out a monthly newsletter, has increased the district's social media presence and wants to clarify the district's mission statement.

"Everybody likes to work for a purpose," Babcock said.

Historically, volunteers' motivations were pretty straightforward. They lived and often worked in the same community where they helped fight fires, said Tim Whitehurst, a third generation Central Washington firefighter and a captain with Yakima County Fire District 11 based in Union Gap.

The roles and responsibilities of volunteers have expanded far beyond the niche they occupied when he started as a volunteer for Union Gap in 1985, Whitehurst said. "Back then, when the whistle screamed, they came running in and jumped on a truck."

At the time, it only took him three or four minutes to go the few blocks from his home to the city's fire station and other volunteers would sometimes get there first, he said.

Today, none of the district's 21 volunteers live in Union Gap, and like most firefighters, they respond to far more medical calls than fires.

On a chilly night last month, Whitehurst watched and took notes as two volunteer recruits -- both from Yakima -- practiced putting down a hose, attaching it to a hydrant and the fire engine, clearing smoke from a house, and sweeping it for fire and victims. Three seasoned veterans ran through the drills with the recruits. The veterans -- two full-timers and one volunteer -- rolled through the drills with ease, smoothly executing tasks they'd performed hundreds of times before.

The recruits moved awkwardly and deliberately through the unfamiliar steps. But more important, they didn't screw up.

"They're getting to where they need to be. With skill and experience, they'll get quicker," Whitehurst said.

The time commitment might be a deterrent for many would-be volunteers, but there's no other option, he said. "This is an inherently dangerous job, and if you don't have the training, you ought not be there."

Both recruits have the flexibility in their personal lives to make the time. Neither have children, a spouse or even a long-term romantic relationship. One, 20-year-old Eric Tejeda, is a full-time student at Yakima Valley Community College, works part time as a janitor, and wants to be a professional firefighter eventually. The other, 41-year-old Matt Strunk, teaches chemistry and physics at Wapato High School.

Both said two of the biggest motivations for joining were being able to help people and the adrenaline rush that comes during an emergency.

Dwight Derby, the 11-year veteran volunteer who helped on the drill that night, said he knows those feelings well. They were part of what hooked him on firefighting when he did a ride-along with Yakima Fire Department before volunteering.

But even Derby, who works for a private ambulance company, had to cut back his time with the department from two overnight shifts a week to one. He got married earlier this year, and volunteering "put a strain on my time with my family" -- his wife and 9-year-old step-daughter, he said.

"I still get that itch to do it," Derby said.

--Dan Catchpole can be reached at 509-759-7850 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/dcatchpole.