By FRED KELLY
The Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)
Mecklenburg County’s dwindling ranks of volunteer firefighters leave some residents in fast-growing suburbs and rural areas waiting for help from more distant crews.
An Observer investigation shows that when the nearest volunteers don’t immediately respond, dispatchers instead send the next closest station, often paid firefighters from the Charlotte Fire Department.
Just Thursday, fire ruined a family’s home in northeastern Mecklenburg and crews from three departments showed up before the Robinson Volunteer Fire Department, which serves the area.
The shortage costs city residents too. Dispersing Charlotte crews can burden firefighters guarding the city and means city taxpayers are effectively subsidizing fire protection in outlying areas.
The number of volunteer firefighters in Mecklenburg has dropped to 672 — nearly 13 percent fewer than a decade ago — at the same time more people are moving into Mecklenburg’s suburbs and countryside. Although some high-growth areas have been annexed by Charlotte, volunteer departments serve 175,000 people, about 23 percent of the county’s population.
The decline of about 100 volunteers is prompting more departments to either hire professional firefighters or ask local governments to consider paying for service.
County Fire Marshal Donald Beard said he is concerned about the manpower shortage, but that agreements between Mecklenburg’s departments to help each other during emergencies ensure adequate coverage.
However, sending more distant departments can hurt response times, and fires may double in intensity with each passing minute.
In Thursday’s blaze, the first department arrived nine minutes after the family called 911.
The national standard for responding to fires, for both professional and volunteer departments, is six minutes.
“Some areas have strong fire departments and some are in limbo when a house catches fire,” said Jim Puckett, county commissioner.
The Observer found:
— The Charlotte Fire Department went to emergencies outside city limits 498 times in 2005, up from 382 the previous year. That’s a 30 percent increase.
The department costs city taxpayers $77 million a year. Each response by a four-person squad costs city taxpayers a minimum of $140 per hour, officials say.
— State and county officials do not know how many times Mecklenburg’s 17 volunteer departments failed to respond first to an emergency in their primary coverage areas. No one keeps track.
— The state is years behind in inspecting volunteer fire departments.
The N.C. Department of Insurance attempts to audit staffing, response times and other safety requirements for each department every five to seven years, but seven departments in Mecklenburg have not been inspected since the mid-1980s.
— The Robinson Volunteer Fire Department risked losing its state certification because it had insufficient staffing. Chief Robbie Honeycutt said the department had 18 active firefighters and emergency medical technicians from December to March, but state rules require at least 20.
Honeycutt recently told the Observer that six new members joined this month.
But he acknowledges the days of the all-volunteer fire company are likely numbered.
“We’re a dying breed,” Honeycutt said.
Support slipping
About three-fourths of the 1.1 million firefighters in the United States are volunteers and their labor saves taxpayers about $37 billion a year, the National Fire Protection Association said.Volunteer firefighters also keep a high profile in holiday parades, and the firehouse doubles as a site for club luncheons, bingos and other social functions.
But the number of volunteer firefighters nationwide has fallen roughly 10 percent during the past 20 years.
Most of Mecklenburg’s volunteer departments receive an $87,500 subsidy for operations from county taxpayers.
Changing lifestyles and a downturn in civic involvement are threatening the future of an American institution that dates to Benjamin Franklin.
Shop owners, farmers and factory workers who once lived near fire stations and volunteered are being replaced by professionals who work outside the communities where they live and have less attachment to civic institutions, fire chiefs said.
When the Newell Volunteer Fire Department in eastern Mecklenburg mailed fundraising letters to area residents 35 years ago, 99 percent were returned with donations. Today, about 24 percent are returned with donations, Chief Matt Westbrook said.
The department, which has a $100,000 budget, receives about $13,000 annually in donations. Insurance alone cost $14,000 last year.
Bill Griffin, chief of the all-volunteer Pineville-Morrow department, laments that recruiting problems likely will worsen because there are fewer people to pass the tradition to the next generation.
Growing up, he and his friends hung out at the local volunteer fire station for fun.
“When we were coming up, there wasn’t a movie theater every three blocks,” Griffin said. “Do you think you could get a young person now to hang out at a fire station?”
‘We can’t police everybody’
The manpower shortages have left some departments with thin staffing during the day, when most volunteers are at their regular jobs.
In Robinson’s district, for instance, only two volunteer firefighters are usually available in the daytime to protect dozens of recently built houses and businesses. State guidelines call for at least four firefighters at a typical house fire.
When a resident called to report a house fire in the Robinson coverage area last week, firefighters from the Newell, Charlotte and Harrisburg fire departments arrived within 10 minutes. Two Robinson volunteers showed up two minutes later, although their station is closer to the house than all but one of the other departments. No one was injured in fire, which severely damaged the $112,300 home.
Robinson Chief Honeycutt said until the public is willing to pay for paid staff, “this is the way it is going to be.”
Dispatchers send the next nearest fire department if the first fire station does not respond to calls in four minutes.
Charlotte Deputy Chief Jon Hannan said his department sometimes receives help from volunteer departments, but during the daytime he said “we’re their insurance policy.”
State regulators can immediately inspect and sanction fire departments if they fail to respond to more than one emergency during a year.
Robinson failed altogether to respond to at least 17 reported emergencies in 2005, Honeycutt said. His volunteers responded to more than 1,100 reported emergencies in all.
Asked why Robinson has not been inspected or sanctioned for inadequate staffing or performance, N.C. Department of Insurance spokeswoman Kristin Runger said her agency was not aware of the problems.
The agency has five inspectors to monitor about 1,500 fire departments and must rely on complaints from the public or local governments to learn about problems, Runger said.
“We can’t police everybody,” she said.
Paying for fire service
Nine Mecklenburg volunteer companies are combination departments that use paid firefighters and volunteers. Other volunteer companies say they would add paid staff if they could afford it. Last year, the Matthews-Morning Star volunteer fire department hired six full-time firefighters. Starting pay is $13.59 per hour.
The department also offers cash incentives to volunteers who work a 12-hour overnight shift and respond to more emergencies.
The moves cost taxpayers $230,000, but the town had no choice, said Dennis Green, the department’s EMS chief. The number of volunteer firefighters had dropped from 35 to 22, he said.
Daytime staffing, Green said, shrank “to the point where we had only one person and his son available.”
Unlike most N.C. counties, Mecklenburg does not have a separate fire service tax.
Firefighters have asked county officials to consider one, but the idea was rejected because administrators and politicians do not feel there is enough public support, said Harley Cook, second vice president for the Mecklenburg County Firefighters Association.
“People are betting they will never need us,” Cook said.
Regional Impact
Volunteer firefighter shortages are affecting departments across the Carolinas, fire and safety officials say: — In Lincoln County, the Alexis Volunteer Fire Department had its first unanswered call in 20 years when no firefighters responded to a reported medical emergency last year. Officials later added two paid firefighters.
— In Lancaster County, S.C., most of the county’s 20 fire departments are volunteers. But home buyers moving into the new Sun City and Edenmoor developments, now under construction, will pay $75 a year for firefighters’ services.
The Volunteers
1.1 million firefighters in the United States
800,500 are volunteer firefighters.
93 percent of volunteer firefighters serve in areas with a population of 25,000 or less.
Source: The National Fire Protection Association