Another fish fry? Why local emergency medical services have so many fundraisers; here's what you can do to help

Rural ambulance in Sweetwater, Wyoming
(Photo by Kim Raff, The New York Times)

Another fish fry, ticket raffle or silent auction? Many of us would like to take a hard pass, possibly for life. But those fundraising efforts are the life of some emergency medical services across rural America. "If you don't do the fundraising, how do you pay for equipment needed to keep those people safe on a job for which they receive no pay?" Donna Kallner reports for The Daily Yonder. "It all adds up. It also takes a toll. When unpaid volunteers spend so much time fundraising, they have less time available for training, equipment checks, and other tasks – including paperwork, without which you don't get funding."

Kallner provides a personal example: "My rural volunteer fire department just purchased a new self-contained breathing apparatus. Those air packs include a frame that holds a pressurized cylinder containing breathable air, a mouthpiece and a regulator. . . . It wasn't cheap. Each new 45-minute pack with a cylinder was $7,500, and spare bottles were $900 each. . . . It took two years of fundraising to raise the $50,000 needed to put that new equipment into service."

What some residents may not know is that fire services impact family budgets. Kallner explains, "What those households pay for homeowners insurance is directly related to the readiness and reliability of the fire department that serves them. That's true in other rural areas, as well. . . . . Homeowners' insurance rates factor in ISO ratings. Those are determined by the Insurance Services Office, which assigns fire departments a score between 1 and 10. A score of 1 is the safest bet that an insurance company won't have to pay out on fire claims. Any area over five driving miles from the nearest fire station is automatically rated a 10."

"Like the rural households they serve, rural volunteer firefighters often pay a premium for homeowners insurance based on where they live. But they show up to flip flapjacks to pay for National Fire Protection Association-compliant PPE and other equipment," Kallner points out. "In my area, the portion of annual revenues municipalities allocate to fire departments might cover what it costs to outfit one new firefighter in PPE and provide an air pack and a radio. The rest of the budget? Fundraising."

"Volunteer fire departments need all kinds of help, and it doesn’t all involve training to put on an air pack and enter burning structures. Sometimes it’s helping sell food and beverages or raffle tickets at community events," Kallner adds. "Next time your volunteer fire department hosts an open house, get pictures of the kids or grandkids with the shiny fire trucks, for sure. But also ask, how old is that truck? If you had to replace it, what would that cost? And what would it take to raise that money? Sticker shock about PPE and other equipment pales in comparison to fire apparatus. . . . We also need people brave enough to look at price tags and grant applications squarely, swallow their sticker shock, and say, 'How can I help?'"