Too few volunteer firefighters is an acute crisis in rural places; The 'antiquated model' must change

Fire crews are a rural area's 'first line of defense' for most
emergencies. (Photo by Peter Crabtree, The Daily Yonder)

Rural fire departments have struggled to get adequate funding, volunteers, and employees, and the problem is getting worse. "A slow but steady decline in volunteers is catching up with America's small-town and rural fire departments," reports Caitlin Randall of The Daily Yonder. "Some solutions – like better funding, a different volunteer structure, and more publicity – aren't simple. And others – like the need for more jobs to retain young people – are beyond fire departments' control."

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Randall's report focuses on a small fire department in Bennington, Vermont, pop. 15,400, working to put out a fast-burning brush fire "in one of the most remote corners of southern Vermont. By the time the first crew arrived, the fire had spread with shifting winds coaxing a rapid uphill burn. . . . With just seven volunteer firefighters available to tackle a wildfire that might torch hundreds of acres of mountain wilderness, a mutual aid request went out to four other departments, including one from across the state line in New York.

"Other crews responded, but they, too, were dealing with a depleted volunteer corps. As each new team scrambled up the rugged terrain, others stepped back, exhausted from time spent digging fire lines — dirt channels in the angled terrain — and tackling burning brush while carrying power tools and 40-pound water packs. It was grueling, dangerous work with little rest while the blaze burned on, in this case, for nearly eight hours."

The lack of volunteer firefighters is a nationwide problem, more acutely felt by rural areas, such as Vermont, where "88% of their fire crews are staffed mostly or entirely by volunteers," Randall explains. "Fewer and fewer people are joining their ranks, and long-time volunteers are aging out. The crisis isn't confined to Vermont. Nationally, 70% of fire departments are mostly or entirely volunteer, and the number of new recruits is also declining."

The National Fire Protection Association, which tracks the numbers of volunteer firefighters in the United States, says the numbers have dropped 17% over a five-year period, Randall reports -- "from about 815,000 in 2015 to 677,000 in 2020, the last year for which figures were available. It's in small towns and rural areas with fewer resources where the falloff in volunteering has been felt the most, in communities where firefighters are the first line of defense for everything from fires to car crashes to natural disaster rescue missions."

"Among the raft of recruitment and retention challenges facing volunteer fire departments, stringent training and certification guidelines top the list," Randall explains. Rural fire departments bear the added burden of needing more good-paying jobs to keep volunteer firefighters in town. 

Rabbi Howard Cohen, who served as fire department deputy chief in Bennington, told Randall, "We have huge respect for firefighters, but we need to acknowledge the fire service has been in a state of crisis for a long time. It’s an antiquated model that absolutely needs to change."