Sounding the alarm

The Pennsylvania Legislature must address the shrinking number of volunteer firefighters

Afamiliar sound in every borough and township is the blaring horn of the municipality’s alarm. It is the rallying call for volunteer firefighters to respond as soon as possible to a fire or an emergency somewhere in their community. The hundreds of volunteer fire companies across the commonwealth are, and have always been, a critical component of local governments’ obligation to protect people and property.

The firefighting system began centuries ago with citizen-manned bucket brigades and has evolved over time into today’s sophisticated fire vehicles and equipment, highly trained men and women, professionals and volunteers. (Benjamin Franklin formed the first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia before the American Revolution.) The volunteers must perform rigorous training and must commit to continuous study and constant availability.

They must always be prepared to interrupt sleep, a meal or a sporting event to respond when summoned by the alarm. It is a sacrifice we don’t often recognize or appreciate.

Currently, there are 1,745 volunteer fire companies in Pennsylvania or 97.1 percent of the state’s total. In Allegheny County the numbers are 187 and 94 percent.

Volunteers must complete at least 176 hours of training, the cost of which can be almost $300 per person. The cost of completely outfitting one firefighter is more than $8,000.

While firefighters face a multitude of emergencies almost every day, there is another emergency regarding these first responders for which we need to sound the alarm — the number of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania is rapidly shrinking. In today’s world of multiple demands and options young people no longer have the time or interest in being firefighters.

Also contributing to the reduced numbers is the fact that many young volunteers are disappointed when they often find themselves spending more time raising money to defray some of the fire company’s cost than they spend training or responding to fires.

A long-term solution is to divide counties into emergency zones based on response times. All municipalities within the zones will contribute to having a nucleus of paid firefighting professionals (chief and fire truck driver for each eight-hour shift) augmented by volunteers.

That solution would require research, study and time to implement. In the meantime we need an immediate plan before staffing challenges reach crisis stage.

There have been many discussions and ideas offered to address this problem but no solution that would apply statewide and no solution broad enough to impact the shortage. Allegheny County has a program called FireVEST which provides scholarships to firefighters at the Community College of Allegheny County.

While good for Allegheny County, it does not address the overall state problem.

In 2006, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania (a legislative agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly) published a comprehensive report intended to assist recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters in rural areas of the commonwealth. The adoption of those recommendations has been uneven mostly due to local budget constraints.

It’s time for the Pennsylvania legislature to adopt a statewide solution. Using the aforementioned 2006 study as a baseline and extending the recommendations for rural Pennsylvania to include the state’s urban areas served by volunteers, consider the following:

• Provide state income tax credits and free scholarships for firefighters and their spouses and children to community colleges and the universities of the Pennsylvania higher education system;

• Consolidate purchasing of fire and EMS vehicles and personnel equipment at the state level to get economies of scale;

• Give local merchants tax credits for offering meaningful discounts for goods and services sold to firefighters.

Let’s sound the alarm to improve the recruitment and retention of volunteers in Pennsylvania’s fire companies. This is the least we can do for the men and women who volunteer to protect our homes and property.