A lack of volunteer firefighters is affecting local departments and has led to the decertification of one of them.
In October, Edgeworth Council, at the recommendation of the fire committee, voted to decertify the Edgeworth Volunteer Fire Department and contract with nearby Cochran Hose Company for firefighting services.
Edgeworth Councilwoman Carrie Duffield said all fire calls were being handled properly, but for many years, they've seen a decline in the number of active firefighters.
"There's a big difference between names on a roster and names of people who are actually active," Duffield said.
Council has been aware for nearly a decade that volunteerism was down across the country, and Edgeworth was no different. Eventually council realized that if the trend of fewer volunteers continued, the day could come when a fire call would go out and no one would respond, she said.
"When you're talking about life and property, you can't fool around with something like that," Duffield said.
Firefighters from Edgeworth have been invited to join Cochran Hose if they want to, she said.
Edgeworth signed a 10-year contract to pay Cochran Hose $50,000 a year plus $9,000 a year for equipment upkeep, Duffield said. Council sent a letter to borough residents explaining the situation, and Duffield said the residents have been very supportive.
"They want their property protected," she said. She said homeowners'
insurance costs for borough residents should also go down because Cochran Hose, which is in Sewickley, is within a 5-mile radius and has more equipment and manpower.
NOT JUST IN EDGEWORTH
Of the 30,165 fire departments in the United States, 25,965 of them are either all-volunteer or mostly-volunteer departments, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council.
Thirty years ago in Pennsylvania, there were about 300,000 volunteer firefighters. That number dropped to 72,000 in 2005, according to statistics from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
The National Volunteer Fire Council did a study to determine the reason for the decline in volunteers.
One of the factors for the decline in volunteerism is time demands -- some of it personal, and some attributable to increased training time and demands within volunteer fire departments, such as fundraising efforts and administrative work.
Duffield also cited time constraints, particularly with people working two jobs and working farther from home.
Raccoon Township Volunteer Fire Chief Joe Dickton said all departments are seeing a decline in active volunteers, including Raccoon.
Dickton said the daytime hours are the biggest challenge, because most fire department members work daytime jobs. Not only that, but more firefighters today have jobs that are farther from home. Dickton said some firefighters on his department have commutes to work of 60 or more miles.
"During the day, we're really short-handed. We maybe only have three or four during the day," Dickton said.
Raccoon works in cooperation with neighboring volunteer departments that act as backup if there isn't a sufficient response, so there has never been a time when a call has gone unanswered, Dickton said.
He said evening callouts are still well covered, with an average of 10 to 15 firefighters responding.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
