Call to action
2/4/09 | 14 comments

Call to action


Fire departments nationwide face decline in volunteers as times change
By Nok-Noi Ricker
BDN Staff
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY KEVIN BENNETT
Part-time Brewer firefighter Steve Turgeon (center) drags a dummy through the new Brewer Public Safety building Wednesday as he helps set the department’s time standard for an agility test to be used in the recruitment of part-time firefighters. Buy Photo

Valeri Beers walked into her neighbor’s home a few months after moving to Passadumkeag and saw firefighting gear — boots, a jacket and helmet — hanging near the front door.

Something inside her clicked.

“I saw her fire gear and said ‘I have to check that out,’” the petite mother of a toddler said Monday.

With a desire to give back to her adopted community, Beers marched over to the town’s volunteer fire department and signed up, joined a long line of volunteer firefighters that stretches back to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and all able-bodied men of that time who did their neighborly duty and pitched in to fight fires.

Benjamin Franklin helped found the country’s first volunteer fire department — the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia — in 1736.

Times have changed, however. Fire chiefs around the state, region and nation are seeing fewer and fewer volunteer firefighters.

“Recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters is one of the key issues being addressed jointly by the NVFC and U.S. Fire Administration,” according to the National Volunteer Fire Council Web site.

Of the estimated 1,148,800 volunteer and career firefighters serving across this country in 2008, about 72 percent, or 825,450, were volunteers. Compared to 1984, that’s a decrease of more than 8 percent, the NVFC‘s 2008 Fact Sheet states.

Maine had between 11,000 and 12,000 volunteers a decade ago and today has approximately 9,000, Madawaska Fire Chief Richard Cyr, president of the Maine State Federation of Firefighters, said Tuesday.

For insurance reasons and according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules, most volunteer firefighters are now paid a stipend or hourly wage. They are considered on-call personnel, and the communities they serve pay for their insurance and gear.

The few firefighters who remain truly volunteer — Passadumkeag firefighters are among the last remaining in the state — are considered part-time town employees for insurance reasons, Fire Chief Brent Faloon said Thursday.

Busy schedules, the significant amount of training required nowadays and a detachment from the long-held tradition of community service are the main reasons the number of on-call firefighters has dropped, Brewer Fire Chief Rick Bronson said last week.

The Brewer Fire Department has a full-time staff of 13 firefighters and uses on-call personnel to fill in for people who take vacations or a day off, Bronson said as firefighters trained at the fire station.

“When I came on, there [were] 25 on-call firefighters,” he said. “Now there are seven with two officers.”

One candidate is training to be an on-call firefighter, Bronson said. Brewer and other departments, including Orono, are looking for recruits.

“We’re looking for a few good men,” he said. “Not everybody can do this, but we wish you’d come try.”

In Brewer, trainees get minimum wage. On-call firefighters earn $12 an hour and more if they get additional training.

“It’s not the money” people care about, Faloon said. “It’s the time. People don’t want to give you the time for any amount of money.”

Fire Chief Thomas Doe of the Winterport Volunteer Fire Department said recently, “It’s getting tougher and tougher to find volunteers.”

“We’re pretty lucky here. We got two this year,” he said. “It’s hard. One thing that makes it even harder is getting through the process to get people trained. It’s pretty intense.”

Basic Firefighter I training takes 110 to 120 hours. Without the book and practical education candidates are very limited in what they can do, Jim Ellis, fire chief for Holden and Eddington, said recently.

“It takes about a year for someone to be really productive,” he said, adding that volunteers are no longer allowed to do on-the-job training as was allowed in years past.

The lengthy training sometimes takes the steam out of the enthusiasm of the volunteers, Ellis said.

Unlike the past, when people dropped what they were doing to join the bucket brigade, “it’s very rare that an employer is willing to let an employee leave” during the workday, Ellis said. And many people do not work in the towns they live and volunteer in.

Bill Reaviel, who started as an on-call firefighter in Brewer seven years ago, now is working full time.

“It took a year to a year and a half” to finish Firefighter I training, doing it mostly at night and on weekends, he said. “It’s a big commitment.”

The former U.S. Marine said he loves his work, the camaraderie with fellow firefighters and serving the community.

Nationally, numbers are dropping drastically, according to the May 2007 report Retention and Recruitment for the Volunteer Emergency Services: Challenges and Solutions, a study sponsored by NVFC and the U.S. Fire Administration.

“Many fire departments across the nation today are experiencing more difficulty with recruiting and retaining members than ever before,” the report’s introduction states. Later, it says, “On a regional level, the northeast has seen the greatest decline in volunteers because it has traditionally been protected by volunteers more than other regions.”

Fire Chief Mike Spencer of the Orrington Fire and Rescue Department said recently that trainees must consider several factors when they decide to become a firefighter.

“It’s a lot of work and requires a lot of dedication and a lot of time away from your family,” he said. “When they [trainees] work a full week, it’s hard to get them to attend” weekend classes.

“By the time we get done with half a year of training, half [of the trainees] will be gone,” Bronson said.

With more than 70 percent of the country covered by volunteer fire departments, the drop in the numbers is a reason for concern, said William St. Michel, Durham fire chief and Maine Fire Chiefs’ Association president.

“Our rosters are starting to shrink,” he said. “It’s something that actually is being experienced nationwide.”

For example, in Durham, “I typically would bring in five [recruits] and lose one,” St. Michel said. “Now I bring in five and lose four. The training requirements are definitely one of the big things. People’s lifestyles and economics also play a big role.”

Durham, Orrington, Eddington, Holden and most other small departments statewide have paid on-call volunteers and the chief is the lone full-time person. Firefighters in these departments are considered part-time municipal employees.

Gone are the days when uncle Joe could just throw on a fireman’s hat and jump behind the wheel of a firetruck to help out, St. Michel said.

“There are even requirements for the drivers,” he said. “It definitely hampers things, but at the same [time] you want to provide your community a level of service.”

All the extra training means only the best of the best show up at fires, and they are ready to work the blaze effectively, Bronson said.

“If we send a Brewer truck to a fire, they’re all highly trained and ready to work,” he said.

In his January 2009 monthly report, Bronson said, “We will be advertising for a fresh recruit class for part-time jobs in early 2009, but we will not drop our standards to fill the class.”

Rural departments supply fire coverage to the majority of the nation and much of Maine. There are six full-time fire departments in Maine, and the rest are volunteer or a combination.

Portland’s full-time fire department with 230 personnel in eight stations is the largest. Bangor with 88 firefighters ranks second, and Lewiston-Auburn is next with 75.

Public education and stricter building codes in the United States have reduced the number of actual fires in recent years, but the workload for departments has increased because many of them took on emergency medical service work in the 1970s and 1980s.

For example, the number of calls that Brewer responds to has jumped nearly 500 percent in the last decade, Bronson said. Brewer responded to 3,243 calls during 2008, according to his January 2009 monthly report.

“When we look at the fact that prior to the year 2000 we had fewer than 500 calls a year, this is big growth. The growth in 2008 alone is huge. 2007 ended with 2,748 calls so we increased by 500 calls in 2008,” it states. “Needless to say, the far majority of these were medical calls. In fact, in 2008, 89 percent of all our calls were medical.”

The increase in call volume also means “we need more people every day, not just occasionally, so part-time personnel can’t keep up,” Bronson said.

Nowadays, fire departments respond to every call from the routine to the bizarre, from chimney fires to suicide attempts to popcorn burning in the microwave. They respond to reports of strange odors, to calls to rescue animals and to assist women in labor.

“The fire department is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Ellis said. “It’s an open commitment. That’s a tough commitment.”

The Orono Fire Department, which in four years went from 20-25 on-call firefighters to two, is turning to University of Maine students for help as it has in previous years.

Orono fire chief Buddy Webb said student firefighters frequently have training from their hometowns, which reduces the amount of training Orono needs to provide them.

“I think we’ll have some luck with the students,” Webb said. “We wouldn’t have them in the summer, but we can get by in the summer when it’s a little bit slower.”

The sticking point, however, is the turnover. Students presumably leave Orono every four years, taking their training with them.

Meanwhile, Beers, who has earned her emergency medical technician certificate but not her Firefighter I credentials, responds to all the calls in Passadumkeag that she can.

“I want to help out my town,” she said. Of the firefighter training, she said, “It’s very intensive, and I don’t have the time right now.” At fires, “I could do everything but go inside the burning building.”

Reporter Jessica Bloch contributed to this story.

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Comments
14 comments on this item
On 2/5/09 at 8:02 AM, NorthernMaine wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The part that is left out of this story is the fact that a volunteer dept. is expected to train and keep records like a wall street business would have to. The firefighters are "required" to make all kinds of trainings that simply isn't possible. Osha and all of these people that are "protecting" us would rather have people taken off the roster because they miss a few trainings than help the communities when they need them. They don't mention the small depts being fined because only 18 of the 22 men have a certain training, its impossible! These volunteer depts do an amazing job in rural Maine, but they won't be allowed to continue if they are held to the same account as these depts that have people hired full time.

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On 2/5/09 at 8:30 AM, Rt2traveler wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Yes, it is true, the goverment regs are driving your fire depts into the ground...at some point your taxes will be going up to hire full time fire fighters for your town too...like the mortgage industry which was required to lend to people who could not afford the payments...but the big stimulus is coming to bankrupt the country for generations...

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On 2/5/09 at 8:54 AM, Dan1234567 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The actions of the last administration over the past eight years has already bankrupt the country. The difference is the stimulous package will be an investment in jobs and infrastructure. Your lame argument is the same as the Republicans, who in the 1930's said Roosevelts plan would bankrupt us. They, the Republicans, had already bankrupt the country with their non regulation of banks and Wall Street. Sound familiar. I would rather see the Federal Government provide the funds for more police officers and fire fighters than rely on somebody who may not be properly trained.

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On 2/5/09 at 10:06 AM, Larryt39 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Wow! What comments from Dan..the Bush administration was responsible for spending millions and millions on our fire and police departments, especially since 911...Furthermore, Dan, don't be blaming the Republicans for the ills of the financial institutions of this country. With the crooked politicians in the Congress, and your blaming the Republicans..get your facts straight before spouting off..it might help your cause..just perhaps now President Obama will get things straightened out, what with the stimulus bill, which provides hundred millions of dollars for condoms etc. That's your party Dan..Larry T. Doughty, larrytdoughty@yahoo.com..www.ourstory.com/larrytdoughty/

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On 2/5/09 at 10:11 AM, Portboy wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

This is one of the best stories that I have seen on the problems with firefighters and small rural towns but it still doesn't hit all of the issues faced by small towns and rural areas. This story mentions Firefighter 1 and the 110 to 120 hours of training. There are other related prerequisites required and to move on to Firefighter 2 I believe that there is about another 100 hours or so of training. In truly rural areas the issue is going to come down to can we have a fire department at all or will we pay the huge increases in our insurances (if we can get insurance at all) and just rebuild if we can't put out the fire ourselves? Small towns have never had large pools of volunteers in most cases. If you had a dedicated chief or core goup you could put together a decent sized and effective team but that was in the day of being able to train in increments and allow firefighters to do what they had training on. There are a lot of support tasks that can support that trained core of interior attack firefighters and they can be effective without 100+ hours of training. I certainly don't agree to going back to the "smoke eaters" day of leather lungs and raw determination but to require everyone to be fully trained for everything on the fire ground is not the answer either. This story didn't mention the continuing requirements either. These are all yearly requirements, bloodbourne pathegons training, sexual harrassment training, haz-mat awareness training, traffic control training and if you are Hazmat Operations level trained there is a requirement for at least 8 hours of refresher training plus any drills on the equipment itself. There are all yearly requiements and if they are all done according to the suggested times total about 16 hours just for the classes. What dummy needs to be told yearly how to stay out of bodily fluids, don't harrass the opposite sex, stay away from strange chemicals or to hold up a traffic sign and wear a vest every year! In some rural departments they may only answer 15-25 calls a year and most of them are false or very small. To ask a volunteer to take all of this training and then go long periods of time without a call to test them is not safe either so now factor in some inhouse drills and exercises to stay familiar with the equipment and where to find the tools or how to get water out of a truck that you haven't used for 6 months yourself. The rolls of many rural smal town departments are shrinking and if it weren't for multiple town mutual aid agreements many of them couldn't answer a call. One size fits all for training and record requirements are not the answer. We somehow have to find a way to allow rural volunteer departments answer calls with reduced training requirements to participate but be able to require the necessary training for the job they are going to do. I am not saying that we pull a person in off the street and give them an afternoon of training and then let them be an interior attack firefighter but they don't need 110 hours to learn how to use the SCBA, put on their fire gear, and use a hose in a single family house. They need to know fire behavior in that situation and they need to have adequate back up before they go in but they don't have to train to be able to address a multi story office building or a chemical plant unless there is one in town to respond to. We also don't need to waste their time on common sense safety and basic decency issues like the above yearly reminders. One instance of one size doesn't fit all approach is ladder testing. It is mandated yearly but some small departments have not taken a ladder off the truck in that year and it has to be tested? Would all of the regulatory agencies mandating requirements to all of the fire departments large and small rather show some flexibility and allow basic coverage in rural area or mandate them out of existence and let people fend for themselves? In these areas we could end up with the old style bucket brigades and men with "leather lungs" trying to save a neighbors place or their own place! Out in the country there still are people that will help their neighbor and may be hurt trying but they can't afford to spend months of training and hours of required refresher training without either going broke or getting divorced! Stop looking at all firefighters the same way. Rural and city are NOT the same!! How many of you could take 4 weeks off from your job (on vacation or without pay) to take the needed training just to be able to volunteer your services to your town? Now you have some idea what it is like in a town of 1,000 people to get a trained force of 20 plus people. By the way to be effective and have reasonable 24/7 coverage with volunteers this is a minimum! Figure the time of day such as during the normal working hours half of your department are out of town working, most can't leave work or are too far away. Some of the remaining 10+ can't get away because they have their children or don't have the car at home (a spouse has it shopping). You may have about 8 able and responding. You have three trucks to drive. You need people to run hose at the scene and direct traffic. You need the Incident Command to overview the situation. You need at least 4 firefighters suiting up to do interior attack. Sic would be better. You may need someone to run pumps at your water supply. Note most rural towns don't have hydrants! You may also need ventalation people or multiple hose set ups each with two people. Lets see we are now up to a minimum of about 11 people and you had 8 available. Mutual aid comes to the rescue but most rural towns up here have members that belong to two or more departments and they still can do only one job so will you have enough enough people to fill your holes? Remember they also will need truck drivers and pump operators and perhaps someone to change and refill air bottles for the attack crews. Then after about two bottles are used by a team you may need to replace that team and give them a rest. Do you have a back up team? I am being negative here but I feel that people have to be aware of some of the issues truly small towns face. The taxpayers will also be facing a HUGE tax increase if something is not done to resurrect a reasonable program for volunteers to train to. It is literally reaching the point that a small town fire department will fold and not service the town's population. Contracts with other towns to provide coverage is not an answer as distance is all important in responding to a fire call! Give a fire time to grow and it will destroy whatever is burning. A small fire may be put out with 50 gallons of water when it reaches the critical point and becomes self sustaining it may take thousands of gallons of water and you have save a worthless shell when you are done. I speak from 23 years of fire service in a very small department.

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On 2/5/09 at 10:59 AM, Rt2traveler wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Dan1234567 wrote

I would rather see the Federal Government provide the funds for more police officers and fire fighters than rely on somebody who may not be properly trained.

Chances are your local police and firefighters are paid from your local taxes....I am a local "vol. firefighter". I get paid about $6/paged call. No call no pay but as gov. regs drive me out of business, the town will pay much more for my replacement to be on duty 24/7 waiting for that occasional call. And so taxes will go up...

"The difference is the stimulous package will be an investment in jobs and infrastructure." what a joke...do you know what is currently in that bill? dog walks, condoms, flower gardens....

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On 2/5/09 at 11:38 AM, Herbert wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

VOLUNTEER FIREMEN REMINDS ME OF MY FIRST TEACH-COACH JOB ON THE ISLAND OF VINALHAVEN, MAINE WHERE MOST OF THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS WERE VOLUNTEER FIIREMEN AND IT WAS THE RULE THAT WHEN THE FIRE ALARM FROM THE TOWN OFFICE RANG IT WAS A REQUIREMENT FOR ALL VOLUNTEERS ASSEMBLE REGARLESS WHAT THEY WERE DOING.....IN THE MIDDLE OF A CLASS UP GO THE WINDOWS AND OFF GO HALF MY CLASS THROUGH THE OPEN WINDOWS....SO THAT CLASS WAS CANCELED UNTIL MY VOLUNTEERS RETURNED FROM THE EMERGENCY.....I LOVED THOSE TWO YEARS I WAS ON THE ISLAND...THE GREATEST PEOPLE YOU WOULD EVER COME IN CONTACT WITH..THAt was in 1952-54

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On 2/5/09 at 12:31 PM, JudySherman wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Very nice article! Portboy, I applaud you. This is the perfect time of year for such articles with Town Meetings coming up. Those not involved in a fire department do not realize the time that each and every one gives to their community...volunteer or paid! I truly believe in safety...don't get me wrong.

But, the OSHA laws should have different guidelines. The little departments in very small communities, I feel, shouldn't be required to do everything that the big departments do...we don't have the same circumstances. Rural is just that.... These men and women put their lives on the line whether it be a fire or accident. A fireman doing traffic control gets absolutely no respect not to mention those on scene trying to do their jobs. If every fireman did get paid for their efforts, maybe we could get more on the roster. Folks do not realize that their taxes will go up if there is no fire department.

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On 2/5/09 at 2:14 PM, bobby56m wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

People aren't volunteering because of the economy. You have to take care of your family, therefore you have to work a full time job. How can you have time to do volunteer fire fighting when it takes so much of your time? I respect fire fighters, but any person can help fight a fire. All the training you require for someone to help out at a fire is ridiculous. Ever since that first volunteer fire department that Ben Franklin set up, average Joe has been able to help fight a fire with no training. Maybe if you stop requiring so much training and taking so much of peoples time, then more people would volunteer.

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On 2/5/09 at 2:31 PM, PabMainer wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Hey bobby...welcome to the 21st century....firefighters don't run with their buckets anymore and form a line shuttling water....also, in case you haven't noticed the horse drawn equipment is a thing of the past too....the methods, equipment, processes, dangers, buildings, lethal consequences etc. are at a level where this type of training is necessary to ensure the best possible safety & results for those involved in the business...so your comment that "any person can help fight a fire" is truely as outdated as you.....if the time ever comes for these guys to pull up in front of your house and a member of your family is inside screaming for help, what do you thik Ben Franklin would do??

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On 2/5/09 at 2:57 PM, Portboy wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

bobby56m your thoughts are dangerous to yourself and to anybody else that has the misfortune to be around you at a fire or other incident! I NEVER said that you didn't need to be trained! I said that a fireman shouldn't need to be trained to a technician level for every conceivalbe type of fire that could happen before they can fight a fire. The firefighter doesn't need to be trained to fight a large factory fire or a high rise fire if a one family dwelling is burning( you can be killed at either one but the complexity is much different) and they don't need to be trained past awareness level on haz mat unless the incident is a haz mat incident. A person that is totally untrained on a fire scene is a serious danger to himself and anyone else that is around you. When you get injured because you are too dumb to protect yourself then a firefighter has to put his/her life at risk to save your sorry ass. One of the biggest hazards to firefighters is the general public rubbernecking and getting in the way at a scene. They don't mean to but they don't understand that the road has to remain open for arriving trucks and water shuttles. Firefighters are trained to park on one side of a road only and to leave a driveway open for fire trucks to turn into. They also are trained to leave their keys in the ignition so someone can move it if it has to be moved. People that don't understand the dangers clog up the scene, walk past hoses, and get into firefighters way. People also don't move over and let firefighters pass them when they are going to a fire or the station. REMEMBER, us volunteers are at work or home and must go the fire or station in their own vehicles! Be alert when you drive and see that bright red flashing light. Put your blinker on and pull over where it is safe to do so! Just two days ago I had to follow two pickups almost a mile because I couldn't get them to let me by when I was responding to a call 7 miles away from work! By the way our department has an antique horse or people drawn chemical soda acid pumper. Would you like to pull it for us? Instead of us using our newest antique pumper and tanker maybe you can help with that. (pumper 28 years old, tanker 30 years old but both working just fine) I am talking about common sense rules and flexible rules and regulations with training to fit the locality and exposures and knowing when to back off and call in trained reinforcements when needed not stupid opinions like "any person can help fight a fire"

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On 2/5/09 at 6:56 PM, Timmy4u wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

One thing that lept off the page, a comment from Chief Bronson. “We’re looking for a few good men." Last time I checked, it was 2009, not 1940. Women can do the same job, maybe he is not looking in the right direction.

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On 2/5/09 at 10:43 PM, JudySherman wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Like I said earlier, firemen get no respect. Timmy4u give Chief Bronson a break.....does every word have to be scrutinized. I am woman, hear me roar, I would be honored to be called a fireman!!! I know some women on fire departments and they get respect from their fellow department members. To me, fireperson or firewoman just doesn't sound right.

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On 2/9/09 at 10:30 PM, Nanook wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Today we are all called "Firefighters". Women and Men both welcome, Thank you.

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