Rising call volume paired with limited volunteer availability are key issues facing rural Maine fire departments, according to a study released Friday by the Office of State Fire Marshal and the University of Maine.
For years Maine has heard dire warnings about the state of fire departments, but never had firm numbers to assess where things stand. The surveys, sent to fire departments in 2025, create a first-of-its-kind look at where the state’s fire services stand.
“It gives us this good snapshot of where we are now and we honestly need this information ongoing every year,” Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast, said. He worked two stints on the state’s Maine Emergency Medical Services Commission.
The survey was designed to count every firefighter in the state, as well as look at other issues facing the fire service. But only 219 of 347 departments, or 63%, responded to the survey.
A total of 5,611 firefighters are rostered for departments who took the survey, while the state has an estimated 9,087 firefighters.
“These are critical services, fire and EMS that we’re talking about,” Sen. Mike Tipping, D-Orono, said. “When they fail or when they’re late the results can be devastating.”
Maine has already seen the system fail. A woman died in rural Aroostook County after 10 ambulance services refused to respond in January 2025. The study released Friday has been touted as a step toward addressing the state’s coverage gaps.
Only 6% of the departments in the survey are fully career firefighters. The other 205 departments have volunteers with more than half operating fully volunteer. The number of volunteer firefighters has plummeted nationwide, with the service losing a quarter of its members in 15 years, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Some level of emergency medical service is provided by 66% of the fire departments, the study found. They’ve seen a 42% increase in calls from 2014 to 2024. That change comes as Maine’s population ages, and people 65 and older call 911, for a variety of reasons, more often than their younger counterparts, according to a study published in Prehospital Emergency Care.
About 50% of Maine’s firefighters are younger than 40, but volunteer departments heavily rely on firefighters who are 50 and older, the study found. Those volunteers are starting to age out of service.
A Down East ambulance service will close in November because it cannot find enough volunteers to continue. Two of the four volunteers who are in their 80s are retiring.
The state needs to ensure volunteer firefighting is sustainable for the next 30 years, Curry said. He said there will be a package of legislation presented next year to modernize fire service and help volunteer services.
Full-time, paid career firefighting is not financially possible for the state, he said. It would cost $654.5 million a year, according to the study. That cost would result in property taxes no one could afford or fire fighting deserts, he said.
Training isn’t easily accessible for volunteers, especially those in western Maine, the study found. Staff have to drive a long way to reach a training facility. Oxford County has the fewest people certified to enter into a building fire, the study found.
It can be difficult to get interior teams into a fire until mutual aid arrives because of staffing, a department said in the survey.
The training distance can be a deterrent, especially because volunteers either need to take time off from day jobs or sacrifice time on their weekends, Curry said. He said he plans to propose a volunteer reimbursement program to the Legislature.
“We’ve got to invest in the volunteer fire service because the state can’t afford a career service all over the state,” Curry said.
The state has seen growing acceptance of regionalizing fire departments, as well as some departments taking their own initiative, the study found. Some areas share equipment and fire apparatus.
There are also more mutual aid activations, the study said. Kennebunk Fire Department has 20 mutual aid relationships, while Hermon fire has 21. The study maps all mutual aid responses, showing a tangled web of who responds where.
Moving forward there needs to be more support to meet minimum training, the study found.
Regionalization, where towns and departments work as a combined agency, is a way to save money in local budgets, the study said. There currently is no funding at the county level, the way a sheriff’s office is funded.
A centralized fire department means there isn’t a need to buy duplicates of expensive equipment and can make it easier for departments to submit grants and do fundraising, the study said.
The study created more breathing room for the state to look at longer term fixes, Tipping said. The state can help by supporting, but not mandating, regionalization, he said.
A comprehensive report is expected in early 2027.