Ken Dixon
Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
HARTFORD, Conn. — A sharp decline in the number of statewide volunteer firefighters is threatening public safety responses in an occupation that’s never been more hazardous, according to a report issued Tuesday by State Comptroller Sean Scanlon.
During a ceremony in the State Capitol honoring firefighters from around the state, Scanlon, whose grandfather was a decorated, life-saving New Haven firefighter, said the report should become “a wake-up call” for the need to stop the staffing decline and assure more resources for fire departments.
The dangers of volatile chemicals and climate-related weather catastrophes, from tornadoes to fatal flooding and wild fires, is the new normal, while both career and volunteer firefighters need mortgage assistance, regular cancer screening and tuition waivers to better recruit and retain them, Scanlon said. In reaction, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said that the profession should reach out to girls and young women to increase their participation in firefighting careers.
Since 2017 there has been a six percent increase in professional firefighters, but a nearly 63 percent drop in volunteers, said the report, which Scanlon issued as the head of the health insurance plan for about 1,000 municipal firefighters. There are 300 fire departments statewide, more than 60 percent of which are volunteer, 17 percent are career and 22 percent are a combination. Groton has the most fire departments with 11; Greenwich has eight; Stamford and Killingly have six.
Eighty eight of the 169 towns and cities have only volunteer fire departments, the report said. According to Connecticut State Firefighters Association statistics, there were an estimated 22,350 volunteers in 2017 and only 8,337 this year. During the same period there were an estimated 4,450 career firefighters in 2017; and 4,738 this year.
“What this report, I believe, is meant to do is serve as a wake-up call to people in every level of government, from state government to municipal government to federal government, to say that if we don’t figure out a way to stop this decline and make sure that our communities have the resources that they need in terms of firefighter power and the resources that we need to attract and retain them, we are going to continue to see communities have public safety challenges and risks for public safety,” Scanlon said.
The report found that while 23 percent of firefighters throughout the country are under 30 years of age, only nine percent of Connecticut firefighters are in that age group, indicating that the profession is less-appealing to those high school graduates who are eligible. There is currently legislation in the General Assembly aimed at increasing recruitment and retention.
North Haven Fire Chief Paul Januszewski has closed two volunteer fire stations during the week, as his volunteers dropped in recent years from 105 to 16, cutting in half the available apparatus available for emergencies. In his professional firefighter ranks, vacancies that once attracted hundreds of applicants now only yield a small fraction of people interested in the career.
“Numerous departments throughout the state are at-risk of shutting their doors, with some already having done so,” said Januszewski, president of the 55-member Connecticut Career Fire Chiefs Association. “We’re sounding the alarm that throughout the state of Connecticut , firefighter recruitment and retention needs to become a priority.”
“Connecticut is facing an urgent moment,” said Ronnell Higgins, who as commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection oversees the Commission on Fire Prevention and Control and has personally congratulated every graduate of the state Fire Academy since his appointment a year-and-a-half ago. “This just isn’t a firefighter crisis. This is a public safety crisis.” Training has to be improved and health benefits should be enhanced, he said.
Higgins said he wants to see “strategic pathways” into the profession, including females.
Bysiewicz, who had an uncle who was a volunteer chief in Middletown, said that females in the state’s school and college-age population are being encouraged to explore the firefighting profession.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D- New Haven, noted that in recent years, as the presence of dangerous chemicals has become more pronounced, lawmakers have supported firefighters with presumptions of health effects. Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D- Norwalk, recalled that over the last year, his city has lost two young fighters to cancer. This month, a new cancer-screeing program has begun for firefighters..
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