Clark County sees shortage of volunteer firefighters


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The number of volunteer firefighters in Clark County and nationwide has steadily declined at a time when firefighters are aging and demand for their emergency assistance is on the rise.

The decline doesn’t surprise Tony Settles, who is one of New Carlisle’s newest volunteer firefighters.

The New Carlisle City Fire and EMS Division has just 10 volunteer firefighters and struggles daily with staffing levels, officials said.

The department has placed ads in local newspapers and recently placed a profile on makemeafirefighter.org to recruit more volunteers.

The U.S. has more than 1.1 million firefighters nationwide. The majority of them — more than 786,000 or 69 percent — are volunteers, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council, a nonprofit membership association representing the interests of the volunteer fire, medic and rescue services.

The number of volunteer firefighters has dropped 12 percent nationwide, from nearly 900,000 in 1984 to about 786,000 in 2013, while call volumes have tripled, according to the council.

The decline is due to the increased training hours needed to become a volunteer firefighter, Settles said, and balancing that with full-time jobs, families and other demands.

“You really have to have the passion for it. That’s why a lot of departments lose volunteers because they just don’t have the time,” he said.

No call unanswered

Jacob King, Bethel Twp. Fire Chief and president of the Association of Clark County Fire Chiefs and Emergency Services, said his department and others in Clark County have struggled to attract and retain volunteer firefighters for several years.

The minimum training hours to receive a state of Ohio firefighter level 1 certification is around 120 hours. Many departments pay for training, equipment and uniforms.

But with more two-income families, as well as the increased training hours and certification demands, King said becoming a firefighter can be a challenge.

“That takes a lot of time. People are always trying to find that balance between work, their hobbies, volunteering and time with their families,” he said. “People are picking family more often than maybe they used to and not wanting to commit to being a firefighter or EMS provider.”

Bethel Twp. has two fire stations and a total of 56 firefighters. Last year, the department received 2,150 calls, more than in previous years, King said.

“We’re starting to really see the need for more volunteers because almost everybody in the area is seeing an increase in responses. We’re getting called more. There’s more calls. There’s more activity. Needing volunteers to replace people who have been doing it for a long time,” King said.

Although they are called volunteers, many are paid per run.

Bethel Twp. part-time firefighters work 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and are paid by the hour and volunteers who are paid per call work 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The minimum staff for Bethel Twp. is eight members to staff to run the fire trucks and medic units, King said, but typically the department only has between five and eight people available.

Some stay at the fire station, he said, but for others who have families, staying at the fire station and responding to calls could mean missing children’s activities.

King’s biggest concern is that the department won’t have enough firefighters for emergencies.

“We have people who run multiple nights to help (make sure) no call is unanswered. There’s a lot of stress on them, the family, the department trying to fulfill the request that the community has for us,” King said.

“Over the last few days, we’ve had engines out on calls, three medic units out, people coming in and taking calls,” he said. “We can’t sustain that every day.”

King works full-time as the fire chief at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and has worked for the Bethel Twp. department since 2004.

To fill the ranks, Bethel Twp. has relaunched its cadet program, which includes juniors and seniors in high school who learn skills to become firefighters. Four Tecumseh High School graduates recently became members of the department.

The department would accept help from local residents who are retired or don’t meet requirements to become a firefighter, he said.

“We’re working on a program for a citizens safety group that they could assist us in doing mild inspections, safety inspections and assisting on-scene with support,” King said.

Big departments calling

New Carlisle Fire Department Chief Brad Phillips said he’s seen a decline in the number of volunteers at his department over the past 10 years.

The department has a total of 42 firefighters and 10 are volunteers. Since launching its recruitment effort, the city has 18 new applicants.

Some departments have shifted from volunteer personnel to paid firefighters because of the decline, Phillips said.

“I don’t think it’s that they don’t want to volunteer, I think it’s because they don’t have time. With two income households, everybody has kids, people are working farther away from home,” Phillips said. “… There’s a myriad of factors that go into it.”

Pay-per-call volunteer firefighters at New Carlisle range in age from about 21 to 70, Phillips said.

Phillips began his career as a volunteer firefighter in 1991 with the Fletcher Volunteer Fire Department. The private incorporated EMS agency ended after volunteer numbers declined and trustees decided to not increase levy money to fund a part-time program.

He joined Trotwood Fire Department in 1999 and New Carlisle in 2009.

Some current and former firefighters have blamed Phillips and low morale for the decline in the number of volunteer firefighters in New Carlisle, but Phillips has said the problem is nationwide and not unique to the city.

The department struggles with retaining firefighters because some move on to become full-time careers at larger departments, he said.

“Usually the younger kids, once they get through school, they really start getting that bug and they want to work some place that’s a little busier so they start going toward Dayton or they try to get hired at Springfield or some place that’s running more than we are,” Phillips said.

Rural struggles

Pitchin Fire Department Chief Chuck Bern has worked there for 20 years.

It currently has 12 firefighters for the department who are all volunteers and go on about 100 runs annually, mostly medic calls.

“We don’t get paid by the run or anything. Everything everybody does is all volunteer,” Bern said.

The training requirements have become stricter every year since Bern began working for Pitchin.

Level 1 firefighter certification classes are 120 hours and medics must complete 40 to 700 hours of classes depending on the type of certification individuals are seeking. That can take six to eight months of training.

That’s a big commitment for people to do without pay, Bern said.

He said he expects the number of runs to climb as Pitchin began full-time service in May. It made that switch because Bern said Hustead Fire Department, which typically covers for Pitchin, is also struggling with staffing.

The shortage in staffing at both departments had impacted response times, Bern said, so Pitchin decided to go to full-time service.

The department recruits volunteers through word of mouth and events at the fire station, such as open houses and dinners.

“If you’re in a rural setting, you’re kind of limited to the number of people you have,” Bern said. “We have no multiple family dwellings in our district. We don’t have any apartments. The people who live there, live there. Not many people move in, not many people move out. We don’t have a great number of new people coming in.”

Pitchin has agreements with neighboring departments to cover emergencies when help is needed.

The department has some firefights in their 50s and 60s.

“We’re all too old,” Bern said. “We would really like to have more younger people.”

Most volunteer firefighters in Pitchin are those with families who have settled in the community. Bern said he would like to have recent high school and college graduates to volunteer.

He expects fire departments to continue to struggle to find volunteer firefighters, which will put smaller, rural departments in a bind.

“One of the biggest things with the public is they take for granted out in the county that if they dial 9-1-1, somebody’s going to show up,” Bern said. “Some people don’t even know where that comes from. They don’t realize I called you at 2 o’clock in the morning because my smoke detector went off and you’re going to come here at 2 o’clock in the morning and stay till 3:30 or 4 o’clock, make sure everything is OK. But then you’ve got to get up at 4:30 and go to work the next day.”

Bern suggested a state or federal tax break for volunteer firefighters as an incentive that could attract more members.

He said some say volunteers should be paid $6 to $10 a run.

“But I’ve had other people say $10 is not going to get me out of bed at 1 o’clock in the morning. The people we have who do it, do it because they see a need and they’re willing to make the time to do it,” Bern said. “You have to be willing to make or take the time to do what you need to do to do it. Everybody on the department could say, ‘I’m too busy, but do it anyway.’”

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