Volunteer fire crews struggle to fill rosters
Volunteer fire departments on Vancouver Island are facing challenges keeping their rosters filled with people who are ready to work for free, willing to sacrifice spare time — and sleep — and eager to learn a variety of life-saving skills.
A number of volunteer fire departments say it is getting harder to find and retain firefighters. Most departments in smaller communities are short of volunteers.
Fire chief Steve Sorensen has five career staff and 37 volunteers in his Sooke Volunteer Fire Department.
Even with several dozen people signed on, it can be almost impossible to find any of them during certain times of the day, Sorensen said.
He has trained a couple of municipal employees in first aid for medical calls when his paid staff are tied up and no volunteers arrive to help.
Volunteer firefighters are trained to a similar level as their full-time equivalents in the city, and that training is borne by the taxpayers.
“We get an average of 2.8 years out of them [before they leave],” Sorensen said. “Basically, we get them to the level we’re comfortable with them, and then they leave.”
Some volunteers move to another community, some start families, while others take jobs as full-time firefighters in town — a move that stings, Sorensen said.
“The career departments are poaching from all the volunteer departments because we train them so well,” he said.
In Sidney, the demographics don’t stack up in favour of Chief Jim Tweedhope keeping his roster of volunteer firefighters at full strength.
Sidney has fewer than 12,000 people and the majority are well past the prime age of a volunteer firefighter.
“The people between the ages of 19 and 44 are just 20 per cent of the population,” Tweedhope said.
He’s got 31 volunteers on hand, but hopes to get the number closer to 40 after the next round of interviews.
Applicants have to be physically fit and between 19 and 45, have a clean criminal record and demonstrate a keen interest in helping others.
But no sooner are new volunteers getting trained than seasoned ones move on, he said. “It’s a constant challenge,” Tweedhope added.