Village short daytime emergency volunteers | Lack of volunteers could cost up to $24K annually

Village of Sussex - Village Trustee Jim Batzko, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, and Fire Chief Corky Curtis both expressed concerns last week about a shortage of volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who are willing to serve the village as emergency responders during the day.

Batzko told village trustees during last week's Village Board meeting that there are sufficient members of the community who are willing to serve as volunteer firefighters/ EMTs. However, he said there was a serious shortage of volunteers during daytime hours.

He urged any village residents who wish to volunteer or trained firefighters who live in nearby communities and are available to serve as volunteers in the Village of Sussex, to contact Curtis.

"We have noticed a decline in the number of personnel responding to daytime calls," Curtis said.

Curtis said he would prefer to have at least 12 volunteers available during the day in the event the department receives two simultaneous emergency medical calls, which he said is not unusual.

Each emergency medical response crew should include four members. The crews consist of a combination of fulltime, partime, and paid, on-call volunteer personnel, he said.

"Today, we had two calls and eight people (paid, on-call volunteers) showed up," the chief said on Tuesday, June 12.

Curtis said if the village is unable to recruit additional volunteer firefighters or firefighter/ EMTs to serve during the day, he may have to ask the Village Board to hire additional part time firefighter/ EMTs who are willing to be assigned to the station during the day.

He said the additional cost to the village could be as much as $24,000 a year.

The part-time firefighter/ EMTs may be paid $75 for a 12-hour shift if they are required to stay at the station, the chief said.

Curtis said he would prefer to have community volunteers who reside in, or near, the village who can be available to respond during the day.

However, he said, the economic recession along with busy lifestyles of volunteers is having an impact on his ability to recruit daytime volunteers.

"It seems that everybody is busy with work, family and kid's activities. And, with the economy like it is, there are more people who are working part-time jobs in order to make ends meet. That makes it even more difficult to find people who can volunteer during the day," he added.

In addition, advanced medical requirements and skills, along with new technology, is requiring more training time which can make it more difficult to recruit daytime volunteers, the chief added.

To become a qualified firefighter/ EMT requires four hours of training, three nights a week for about four and a half months, according to the chief.

However, the position does pay between $4,000 and $5,000 a year. A paid, on-call volunteer is paid between $8.75 and $9 an hour per call and nearly all of the calls are at least two hours, according to the chief.

The chief said he would prefer new volunteers live in the Lisbon-Sussex communities.

He said a volunteer from the Town of Lisbon will be asked to consult with Lisbon Fire Chief Doug Brahm before becoming a Village of Sussex volunteer.

The department will consider volunteers from outside the Lisbon-Sussex communities if the volunteer can be available during the day, the chief added.

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