Volunteer fire departments struggle with lack of personal protective gear, inability to hold needed fundraisers

While the pandemic has complicated plans for fighting large wildfires, it has also hurt small-town fire departments' ability to function.

"Across the country, fire departments are adjusting to the coronavirus pandemic, changing protocols to try to reduce the risk of exposure among first responders, coping with a shortage of personal protective equipment and figuring out the potential budget challenges facing many local government agencies," Kate Queram reports for Route Fifty. "For small departments, there are additional dilemmas, starting with fewer volunteers willing or able to work. Departments also have been forced to cancel fundraising events, a vital source of revenue for rural companies."

More than 80 percent of the nation's fire departments are all or mostly comprised of volunteers, Queram reports. Some have been able to adapt, including one in a small town in New York that operated its annual barbecue chicken dinner as a drive-through event, but other departments have had to cancel events, and told Queram they're not sure how they'll make up the deficit.