Pa. Volunteers Face Crisis in Staffing, Funding
Jan. 26--CHAMBERSBURG -- For years, even decades, emergency service volunteers have complained about a shortage of volunteers and increased demands of training and fundraising.
They took an unprecedented step last week and approached the Franklin County Council of Governments. They asked the group to support a countywide study of fire and ambulance companies. Taxpayer money would help to ease their burden, they say, but it's not the entire solution.
All community groups have lost volunteers, according to Randy Negley of the Franklin County Emergency Services Alliance, "but when it comes to life and property, that's serious."
Sustaining emergency services has become a nightmare, he said.
Franklin Fire Company, one of the largest and best organized volunteer fire companies in the county, shows the wear and tear of modern life. In little more than a dozen years, its number of volunteer firefighters has dropped 22 percent while its emergency calls have increased 12 percent.
It gets worse.
The fire company made as much last year from bingo as it did in 1999, according to Fire Chief Mark Trace. The cost of a fire engine has doubled and turnout gear has tripled.
"I can't increase my charges like an apparatus manufacturer," he said. If the average person spends $30 on bingo night, is it reasonable to think he or she would spend $90?
Franklin runs 120 bingo events a year. Each takes 10 volunteers, so losing 20 members in 13 years has been a big deal, Trace said.
Leaders of the fire and emergency services say people lead busier lives. Both parents in a family work. They shuttle children to sporting events. Teens play video games rather than hang out at the firehouse.
"Fire departments have to break the paradigm," said Donald Konkle, executive director of the Pennsylvania Fire & Emergency Services Institute. "Unfortunately it takes a long time to turn the ship around."
Fire companies have to appeal socially to their communities to make people want to come and help, he said. They could set up screens for interactive games to attract youngsters.
Franklin County already has programs in high school and in summer to engage young people in emergency services. Assigning mentors is critical, Konkle said .
In an increasingly transient population, a firehall can be a place for newcomers to meet people.
More volunteers would be a big help because the core of active responders has shrunk.
Thirty firefighters answered at least 10 percent of Franklin's calls in 2002. Just 20 were as active in 2014.
In rural Path Valley, Fannett-Metal Fire Company has similar issues.
"I think we're trying to hold our own," Fire Chief Sam Pederson said. "A lot of guys were junior members and they stuck around. If (the call comes in) at the wrong time of day, it's not going to happen. Tweener time -- when some guys leave for work and others are coming home. Some days are pretty good. Other days not so good."
Training to be an entry level volunteer firefighter takes dozens of hours of training and several thousand dollars.
Volunteers giving up 20 hours of their time need incentives, Konkle said. They could receive a break on their income taxes, a buyback on their student loans or a modest pension when they reach age 55.
An outside, professional look at local emergency services could bring different ideas to ease the situation, according to Trace.
"We can tweek it," he said. "I think it's a great start. I don't want money coming out of my paycheck. We're looking for any kind of idea."
The Adams county Council of Governments previously tackled the issue and many municipalities agreed to levy a real estate tax to support local fire and ambulance companies.
"There is no magic bullet," said Steve Lyle, executive director of the Emergency Health Service Federation. "Funding alone will not help bring volunteers in. Local tax support will reduce the number of hours spent on fundraising, but it will not reduce the hours of training. The thing that's different in Adams County is we have a county that is willing to bring folks together to begin to discuss the issue."
Ambulance companies face cuts in Medicare reimbursement for runs.
EMS gets three times as many calls as the fire service, he said.
"We've not done as well in prevention," he said. "We should probably be better at preventing these emergency calls."
The fire service has also cut back its response. Franklin Fire Company over the past dozen years phased out sending rescue personnel to every ambulance call in its territory, according to Trace. The truck responds to only the more serious cases.
"Several fire companies have reduced the amount of apparatus responding to lower priority calls such as automatic fire alarms and inside investigations," Trace said. "This was done to reduce wear and tear on fire apparatus and personnel."
The 1976 Pennsylvania Burning study, which endorsed a statewide building code, concluded "fire suppression is strictly a local problem -- as opposed to protection, which is of broader concern -- and the decision as to how much in the way of fire-fighting forces are wanted should be up to the local citizens. If the individual communities decide they can afford only a certain amount of money for fire fighting -- or even if they feel they want no suppression -- that, it seems to us, is their right."
"The solution is local people talking about local issues," Lyle said.
Jim Hook can be reached at 717-262-4759.
Copyright 2015 - Public Opinion, Chambersburg, Pa.
