Rural communities depend on volunteer firefighters and paramedics, but their numbers have been dropping in recent years, Mary Cloud Taylor reports for the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont.
Gary Mahugh, fire chief of the Creston Fire Department (which serves 8,000 residents) in the northwestern corner of Montana, told Taylor: "In Creston, if we did not have volunteer firefighters, we would not have a fire department. . . . Or we would not have any kind of response in any kind of a timely fashion."
In 1974 when he first joined the department, Mahugh said there was never a shortage of volunteers. He thinks the decline in numbers is because of a societal shift in the community. Many employers won't allow employees to leave during the workday for fire or medical calls. And because most families today depend on two incomes, people work more hours and may not have as much time to volunteer, he said.
"The increasingly lower commitment levels from some volunteers means the department not only has fewer firefighters responding to each incident, but inconsistency over which volunteers, what level of training or how quick of a response to expect," Taylor reports. Some communities have wanted to compensate volunteer firefighters and medics, but financial stress in some rural areas makes that a difficult sell.
Gary Mahugh, fire chief of the Creston Fire Department (which serves 8,000 residents) in the northwestern corner of Montana, told Taylor: "In Creston, if we did not have volunteer firefighters, we would not have a fire department. . . . Or we would not have any kind of response in any kind of a timely fashion."
In 1974 when he first joined the department, Mahugh said there was never a shortage of volunteers. He thinks the decline in numbers is because of a societal shift in the community. Many employers won't allow employees to leave during the workday for fire or medical calls. And because most families today depend on two incomes, people work more hours and may not have as much time to volunteer, he said.
"The increasingly lower commitment levels from some volunteers means the department not only has fewer firefighters responding to each incident, but inconsistency over which volunteers, what level of training or how quick of a response to expect," Taylor reports. Some communities have wanted to compensate volunteer firefighters and medics, but financial stress in some rural areas makes that a difficult sell.
1 comment:
In most rural communities there are fewer local employers in the first place. People who might otherwise be able to answer an emergency call are commuting to jobs out of the area.
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