As more rural residents drive to jobs elsewhere, fire departments have trouble finding volunteers

Seventy-two percent of the nation's more than 1.2 million firefighters are volunteers, says the National Fire Protection Agency. That percentage is a lot closer to 100 percent in rural communities, where many are finding it harder and harder to even fill a full crew, David Miller of the Nebraska-baded Center for Rural Affairs reports.

"You go through times when there are a shortage of people. In our community especially ... there are a lot of people that work out of town," Tarz Mullinex, the chief of Beresford (S.D.) Fire and Rescue, told Miller. "So, you always cherish anybody that happens to be employed in town or a business person to be on the fire department for the day time fires." South Dakota uses a program called mutual aid, which alerts nearby towns of large fires in areas with a small department.

Finding businessses willing to let their employees leave at a moment's notice to respond to a fire is also difficult. "There are no laws requiring business owners in South Dakota to let volunteer firefighters answer emergency calls while they are working," Miller reports. "For employers it becomes a delicate balance between running a business and protecting the community." (Read more)