Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
A RED-HOT CRISIS
Fire calls have been increasing every year. The number of volunteer firefighters has been dropping steadily. It’s a crisis about to hit a boiling point.
KENNETT SQUARE >> Firefighters in Chester County and across the nation risk their lives every day to save others. Yet the shortage of firefighters threatens the very existence of volunteer fire companies.
“The nation’s facing a crisis of not having enough volunteers,” said A.J. McCarthy, chief of the Longwood Fire Company at 1001 E. Baltimore Pike in Kennett Township.
In Pennsylvania, where more than 90 percent of the state’s 2,400 fire companies are volunteer, the number of volunteer firefighters has declined from 300,000 in the 1970s to just 38,000 in 2018, according to the latest statistics from the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that there were 682,600 volunteer firefighters in the United States in 2017. That is down significantly from the 814,850 and 729,000 volunteer firefighters that the NFPA es
timates were active in the U.S. in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
And with nearly seven in 10 firefighters in the United States being volunteer firefighters and that call volume has tripled over the past 20 years, the situation is dire.
McCarthy said the hours required for volunteer firefighters equates to a lot of time away from home. “It’s not that people are unwilling to volunteer, it is that they aren’t capable due work and other obligations in their lives at home.
McCarthy said people can reach out to their local fire departments and see what the volunteer firefighter requirements are as well as what they can offer back.
“It is truly rewarding,” McCarthy said of firefighting and public service.
He added, “The community really relies on you ... It is your neighbor helping your neighbor.”
There can be little doubt that volunteer firefighters save taxpayers a bundle. State fire officials estimate that volunteer firefighters save Pennsylvania communities about $10 billion annually. A lack of volunteers has recently forced some agencies to turn to hiring full- or part-time staff to ensure fire service goes uninterrupted.
A Chester County native, McCarthy hails from a family of firefighters and law enforcement officers.
“Every dad is their son’s first hero,” McCarthy said on Thursday. He served as a police officer in West Chester prior to becoming the fire chief at Longwood in 1997.
McCarthy’s dad, Albert McCarthy, served as a firefighter for the Kennett Fire Company in the Borough of Kennett Square. “I would go down to the firehouse with him,” McCarthy said. “When I turned 16, I wanted to join Longwood.”
Longwood has a mix of volunteer firefighters and career firefighters. The company has served Kennett, East Marlborough, Pennsbury and Pocopson townships since 1921.
Longwood’s primary fire and emergency service territory protects approximately 30,000 daytime residents and more than one million visitors to Longwood Gardens. “We respond to assist other fire companies throughout Chester County, Delaware County and Northern New Castle County,” McCarthy said.
“I started as a junior firefighter and worked my way up all the way to chief,” McCarthy said. He became chief at Longwood in 2011.
In terms of public safety, “the most rewarding thing you can do is save somebody’s life or show up on their worst day and make it better,” McCarthy said.
Reflecting on this career, McCarthy said one of the most impactful calls occurred on June 13, 2008, when a 17-year-old Unionville High School student and her friend swerved to miss a deer and hit a telephone pole at the bottom of Chadds Ford Hill in Pennsbury Township.
“She was severely injured and heavily trapped in her vehicle,” McCarthy said. “It was about 100 degrees that night and we worked for over an hour to free her from the vehicle.”
Further, “Her family were on the scene while we worked and were crying out for her to live, unfortunately she passed away on the scene. Seeing the pain in their faces reinforced with me that we are the people the community looks for to solve their problems and it’s upsetting when we can’t. I have a sister that was around the same age so it hit a little harder.”
McCarthy added, “There are many calls that I could reflect on, it’s hard to single more out. The biggest firefighter moment would be the commitment from our personnel to answer every call that comes in. Our people spend thousands of man-hours a year training and responding to emergencies.”
And with the fires that occurred on Newark Road in West Marlborough Township and at the equestrian farm in Pocopson Township last Sunday, the volunteer firefighters left their families on Sunday to help make a difference, risking their lives extingushing out dangerous flames.
“They sacrifice holidays, time away from their families, missed dinners, et cetera, to help a complete stranger and they do it every time,” McCarthy said. “They are great to work with and have hearts of gold.
As for the shortage of firefighters in America, part of that is due to the cost of living going up for people no matter where they live. However, Longwood Fire Company, one of approximately 50 firefighting companies in Chester County, pays for all the training of new volunteers at no cost to the member, provides accidental death as well as life insurance to personnel at no cost.
For high school students in the area, the Longwood Fire Company has a scholarship for Kennett High School students who pursue a degree in science named in honor of Firefighter Jim McGovern, who tragically passed away in 2010.
All fire companies must raise their own operations funds, and local municipalities do help with some cost. However, the majority of funds is supported by the generous donations of community members. The Commonwealth does not financially support the operational cost of fire companies in Pennsylvania with limited exceptions such as safety training.
For folks interested in supporting the Longwood Fire Company, “Any financial support goes to our operational and capital programs,” McCarthy said. “We also deliver pool wa
ter as our main fundraiser.”
People can mail checks to the station or donate online via the company’s website. Also, if a family is looking to dispose of a vehicle, McCarthy said the fire company can accept that as a donation to practice with the team’s vehicle rescue skills.
McCarthy said the Longwood Fire Company is fortunate to have people who support their work including local, regional and state officials.
Other companies struggle for funds for operational costs besides growing their companies with additional volunteers.
As for the best part of living in Chester County, McCarthy said: “It’s a great community and really bands together in time of need. It’s a very diverse county and geographically allows you to experience a very urban setting and a short drive the historic rural settings that most people don’t get to experience on a daily basis.”
“People work Monday through Friday,” said Gerry Dinunzio, president of Chester County Fire Chiefs Association. “They May not have time to volunteer.” He became a firefighter in 1987 when he was 17.
Like McCarthy, Dinunzio too hails from a family of firefighters, following the generational steps of his own father and grandfather who were both firefighters.
He said people can support fire companies by sending donations to their local fire companies and by volunteering.
The state provides specific relief funds for firefighter safety and certain types of equipment, he said.
“Everything else is locally funded,” Dinunzio said.
As for volunteers, he said fire companies need help in all aspects including administrative volunteers.
He noted that most volunteer firefighters in Chester County have full-time jobs. Dinunzio said the scales are tipping with less volunteers due to “life, family and work.”
“The contributions of Chester County’s emergency first responders and public safety professionals are invaluable and irreplaceable,” said State Senator Carolyn Comitta, D-19, of West Chester. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee.
“In appreciation of their efforts and service, we must continue to give them the tools they need to recruit and retain volunteers and staff, while effectively, efficiently, and safely doing their jobs,” the senator said on Saturday.
“In so many cases, service in our fire, EMS, police, and law enforcement communities is a family value,” Comitta said, “passed down through generations — with grandparents, parents, sons, daughters, and individuals all stepping forward to answer the call.”