After years of declining membership, the Owls Head Fire Department has gotten to a point where if an emergency call goes out, sometimes it’s only the fire chief who shows up.
The department has always posted signs around town to try and recruit new volunteers, but nothing has come of them, Owls Head Fire Chief Frank Ross said.
However, a new sign, posted last week, is attracting attention in the local community and on social media.
The bright orange sign outside of the firehouse reads: “We need people now. Help, or we may as well be closed. If you won’t help, who will?”
Ross said he’s received about 15 Facebook messages and 12 phone calls from individuals interested in volunteering since the department posted the sign and shared a photo of it on the Owls Head Fire Department’s Facebook page.
The fire department plans to hold a meeting Monday night when potential volunteers can take the first step toward the training process.
Currently, there are 17 members on the fire department’s roster, according to Ross. That number is down from a high of 39 firefighters. But it’s not the number of people on the roster that matters, Ross said, it’s the number of people who show up when a call goes out.
If a call goes out at night for a fire or another emergency situation, Ross said the department can get by. It’s during the daytime when the response to calls is dangerously low, because the members of the volunteer department have other jobs.
“We’ve had a couple calls where I’m the only one,” Ross said. Luckily, those situations ultimately did not need a full response, but that isn’t known when a call goes out, he said.
The department has heavily relied on mutual aid from Rockland, South Thomaston and other neighboring communities.
The Owls Head Fire Department sees “very few calls, fortunately,” Ross said, with an average of about 45 calls per year.
Owls Head is far from alone in its struggle to recruit new firefighters. Across the state, small towns with volunteer fire departments have been facing a shortage of volunteer firefighters for years.
Ross, 65, has been a member of the Owls Head Fire Department since he was 24, and has served as chief for many of those years.
“It’s not like it used to be,” Ross said. “It used to be when you got married, built a house and moved into town, you went to the fire department and joined up to help. Now, it doesn’t seem like that’s happening.”
Full training and equipment is provided by the Owls Head Fire Department to volunteers. While the new sign has motivated some people to reach out, Ross said it takes a year before a volunteer firefighter completes the highest level of training.
“We’re trying to be proactive,” Ross said. “It’s knowing who is going to pick up the hose after you.”
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