By Laura Pace and Lynda Guydon Taylor
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 P.G. Publishing Co.
The fire pagers go off in the pockets of the Library Fire Department volunteers, but fire administrators never know how many will show up to fight fires in the department’s portion of the 10.2 square miles of South Park.
“Either they’re stuck baby-sitting or they’re working two jobs to make ends meet,” said Ted Hale, chief of the department. “Our concern was, during the day, you never know if you’re going to have somebody.”
The department responded in June by adding a daytime career firefighter, a position staffed by three part-time firefighters, to supplement its 18 to 20 volunteers. The territory also is guarded by the Broughton Volunteer Fire Department, a crew of about 40 to 50 volunteers.
In Mt. Lebanon, where 17 career firefighters augment 43 volunteers, the number of fire calls that each volunteer answers is slowly slipping, from up to 70 percent of all calls years ago to the minimum commitment of about seven calls a month, Mt. Lebanon Fire Chief Nick Sohyda said.
Growth in South Strabane has led to about 600 fire calls a year, double the calls of the early 1990s. A paid staff, created in 1998, includes five firefighters to supplement a corps of 25 volunteers, Chief Scott Reese said.
It’s a solution some departments have chosen, while others have leaned toward incentives to help fill the ranks and retain volunteers. State lawmakers are trying to see what they can do to help.
The difficulty in attracting volunteers is a nationwide problem, especially in Pennsylvania, where, according to a report to the state Senate in 2004, more than 90 percent of the 2,462 fire departments are volunteer. The national average is 73 percent.
U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, has proposed legislation that would encourage more people to volunteer. Volunteer firefighters are a key element of support and safety for communities across Pennsylvania, Ms. Hart said. On the other hand, the number of volunteers has been falling for 30 years, from 300,000 in 1976 to 72,000 today.
Ms. Hart introduced the Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment and Retention Act in May. It would provide a $1,000 tax credit to those who spend at least three years on the force, and would continue $1,000-a-year tax credits up to seven years and a $1,500 credit once a volunteer reaches eight years of service. It would help offset costs firefighters incur, Ms. Hart said.
The Joint Committee on Taxation has yet to determine the cost in terms of lost tax revenue.
A 2001 Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute Study estimated the value of services provided by volunteers statewide at $6 billion a year, taking into account firefighter salaries and benefits alone.
The Hart bill is in the House Ways and Means Committee, where she serves. Her bill is not the only one attempting to tackle the problem. Four other congressional bills calling for tax credits, three in the House and one in the Senate, have been proposed. Other bills addressing the need for volunteers have been proposed in the state General Assembly.
“I think [the congressional bills] are all good. Anything that shows the community values service by providing something of value to people, whether with finances or time, is a good thing,” Ms. Hart said.
The number of volunteers has dropped, and communities are dealing not only with fewer recruits but also with challenges such as chemical hazards and terrorism, she said. She hopes, if passed, her legislation, endorsed by a significant number of fire companies and the National Association of Towns and Townships, will encourage more volunteers.
Firefighters say not only is it dangerous work but it also means time away from family, Ms. Hart said. The tax credit is in direct relation to what volunteers lose as a result of giving of their time. “It’s a good way to tell them, thank you.”
“It’s a step in the right direction, but I don’t think they’re going to be beating the door down for $1,000,” Chief Hale said. An idea that might make a real difference would be to give volunteer firefighters a complete property tax exemption, he said, or even go to a partial-pay system, where volunteers could collect 20 percent of what career firefighters get.
Noel McMullen, district fire chief in Peters, said he believed financial incentives and help with children’s education would be effective. He said firefighters whose children get financial help with a local college would serve two purposes, giving the family money toward educational expenses and keeping their children in the area.
Anything that can be done for people willing to donate their service would help, state Fire Commissioner Ed Mann said. Lots of legislation, including death benefits, tuition reimbursement and pension and insurance incentives, has been introduced in the state, although little has been passed, Mr. Mann said.
Ms. Hart believes congressional legislation has a good chance of passage because it is cost effective and in keeping with community service.
There are a couple of reasons that the number of volunteers has declined. Mr. Mann cited an increase in families in which both parents work and more activities competing for people’s time.
“People are so busy these days,” Chief Sohyda said, noting his department’s volunteers have training two Mondays a month, 166 hours of basic training and emergency calls. Children are more active, requiring more parent participation.
Mr. Reese, the South Strabane chief, said fire departments all over were feeling the squeeze. Becoming a firefighter involves a lot of training, commitment to do fund raising and working events such as bingo. Some might join thinking they are simply going to fight fires, which is not the case.
For every three recruits the department gets, one commits for the long haul. Another problem for departments is that those who decide to make it a career sometimes move away for better opportunities.
Although the state does not mandate training, South Strabane and many other departments do.
“I’m very uncomfortable sending someone out on the street with no knowledge,” said Mr. Reese, who has been with the South Strabane department since 1989 and got his start in 1977 in Lone Pine.
“Volunteers are a dying breed. People don’t have the time to give,” he said.
Chief McMullen said another problem was that people don’t see the firehouse as the community gathering place they once did.
Recruiting was somewhat easier in the days when young folks would hang around the firehouse for something to do. Now, teens have the Internet and other things to keep them busy, leaving fire departments to recruit with ads and booths at community days, among other ways.
Mt. Lebanon’s biggest recruiting tool is its Citizens Fire Academy, a free 10-week course to familiarize civilians and those who work in the community with emergency services.
The department had seven recruits last year and Chief Sohyda is happy with about five recruits a year. This year, there have been three.
Like South Strabane, several fire departments meet the manpower need by combining volunteers and paid staffers.
North Strabane supervisors agreed last month to beef up the township’s fire department by approving a proposal to conduct testing for the hiring of a deputy fire chief in charge of training, helping with administrative duties and coordinating 911 operations. The deputy would report to the volunteer chief. The department has two paid firefighters and 26 volunteers.
There is a need to supplement the daytime staff, Supervisor Brian Spicer said. The township has grown so much and firefighters are required to do more, such as test sprinkler systems.
“It’s well known that volunteer firefighters are the best buy a township can have,” Mr. Spicer said.
Peters has had a combination fire department for as long as Chief McMullen can recall, with a current roster of 11 paid and 20 to 25 volunteers.
Volunteers do have a quota of volunteer time, set up as a points system, which requires them to attend a certain number of training sessions and fire calls in order to remain active.
The Library Fire Department, which has no such quota, has started a rewards program similar to a retirement program to encourage longevity.
One department that continues to rely on an all-volunteer force is Ellsworth/Somerset, which began displaying a sign seeking volunteers about six months ago at its station on Route 136 in Somerset. The sign and fliers elicited eight to 10 phone calls, and of those, three or four people joined, said Chief Dave Lambert, who works for Ellsworth’s Public Works Department.
The department gets a lot of high school kids who must learn the ropes and cannot do too much until they turn 18, he said.
The department, which numbers 35 active firefighters participating in all facets of the operation, covers about an 85-square-mile area, including Interstate 70 and Routes 136 and 519.
He regards the Hart legislation as a good incentive for volunteers and a benefit to all fire departments.
“It’s a changing world,” Chief McMullen said. “And it has been changing. This isn’t something that happened last week.”