Pennsylvania Volunteer Firefighters Struggling to Fill Rosters

April 05—An unfortunate coincidence left volunteer firefighter Mike McCarthy with a tough choice to make.

Study for his Firefighter 1 test or a college physics exam, both highly technical and both on the same day.

"I passed the physics test but didn't pass the Fire 1," said the 21-year-old Archbald resident.

Failing the fire test two years ago means the Artisan Volunteer Fire Company second lieutenant cannot fight fires.

The juggling did not end when Mr. McCarthy graduated in 2013. Now, with a job as a HVAC technician at Moses Taylor Hospital that has rotating shifts, he struggles to balance volunteerism and work—a problem that is contributing to dwindling numbers of volunteers throughout the region and state.

In the late 1970s, Pennsylvania fire companies had more than 300,000 volunteers. That number is now somewhere between 50,000 and 70,000, said Don Konkle, director of the Pennsylvania Fire & Emergency Services Institute, a mere one-sixth of its former size.

The decline has been devastating for some departments, such as Jackson Township Volunteer Ambulance Association in Luzerne County, which is dissolving in May, mainly because there are not enough volunteers.

There are about 40 volunteer fire departments in Lackawanna County, and many here and around the region have been forced to rely more heavily on mutual aid agreements with neighboring companies to muster enough firefighters in an emergency.

Newly appointed Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Tim Solobay said the problem spreads across the state, affecting even his fire company in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

"When I joined in the mid-70s, we had a 45-man roster and a waiting list. ...We probably had a good 20-plus who would answer every time the fire alarm would go off," Mr. Solobay said. "Nowadays we have an average of five, six, seven guys per call."

Stringent training

Training requirements, regularly updated by the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, have grown more stringent from the days when every barber, car salesman and plumber on Main Street hung his fire helmet by the door.

"The amount of training becomes very problematic for someone who is maybe older," said John Leonard, director of Luzerne County Community College's Public Safety Training Institute. "When I went through, I was maybe 17, 18 years old. By and large, it's younger people coming in because they have the time."

Many fire companies, including Artisan in Jermyn, pay for their volunteers' training. Firefighter 1 certification, for example, costs hundreds of dollars per firefighter considering the textbooks, two written exams and two practical tests in controlled emergency scenarios.

Mr. McCarthy has passed his practical tests. He took the Firefighter 1 test a second time last summer but missed a passing grade by only a few points, he said.

Mr. McCarthy completed other essential emergency training courses and helps coordinate with younger firefighters on the weekends.

He has a third and final shot to pass the 100-question primary firefighter training test this summer. If he fails, he will have to start from the beginning.

However, with his work schedule, restarting the time-intensive training is likely impossible.

"If I can't complete that test, I won't be able to ever take it again," Mr. McCarthy said.

Mr. Solobay admitted training requirements have made volunteering all the more daunting, but he said it has improved the quality of service.

Officials are considering solutions to make training opportunities more accessible because lives are so busy," Mr. Solobay said.

Most fire officials agree that training standards should remain stringent, but some of the text-based courses could be offered online, so volunteers can complete course work on their own time.

Training has become increasingly necessary as sending ill-prepared firefighters into burning buildings is an incendiary insurance liability.

"The training is the same no matter what, no matter your position, volunteer or career," said Mr. Solobay, who is the assistant chief of his hometown's Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Company. "You don't go to a doctor who's only had half of their training. Your life depends on it as much as the people you're going to rescue."

Sounding the alarm

The average volunteer firefighter's career lasts about five years today, federation member Kevin Ray told the Northeastern Pennsylvania Volunteer Firemen's Federation during their March meeting.

That means companies must have aggressive recruitment plans to bring aboard new members or risk running out of manpower through attrition, he said.

About 40 people—most of whom remember the days when firefighters did not wear air packs and people called the firehouse instead of 911 in an emergency—filled the Eagle Hose Company Number 1 fire hall in Dickson City last month. Amid talk for improving fundraising and honoring fallen firefighters, the conversation more than once centered on how to recruit more younger, fresher volunteers who want to make the lifetime commitment. Volunteerism has changed significantly since Mr. Ray joined the company in the 1960s.

"When you joined at 16, you were there for life," he said. "Now, when you join at 21 or 22, if they can get five years out of you, they're lucky."

At Artisan, recruitment had grown stagnant until about four years ago when Captain Bob Chase, who was a lieutenant then, proposed starting a cadet program to recruit junior firefighters.

The program pumped new life into the company, he said, with five young firefighters recently graduating and about seven more enrolled behind them.

Volunteer incentives

Lawmakers slowly have been expanding how the state supports fire companies, looking at filling their rosters, not just bolstering company bank accounts.

"In the past number of years, all the state resources have gone to strengthen fire departments financially," Mr. Konkle said. "They've been helpful, but what we haven't done is incentivize volunteerism."

With an arsenal of bills and program recommendations, state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-20, Lehman Twp., and her colleagues in the Senate hope to inspire new and younger citizens to sign up.

"(I) can't go to a fire company event, a bazaar, a chicken dinner, a barbecue, you name it, where I don't have a conversation with their leadership about the challenges they face," Ms. Baker said.

Most recently, Ms. Baker advanced the effort by reintroducing Senate Bill 299, which empowers municipalities to offer earned income tax credits to volunteer firefighters and EMTs.

Ms. Baker, who sits on and once served as chairwoman of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, said the bill has no effect on the state budget. It may impact municipal budgets because credits would be for municipal tax bills. Conversations with civic leaders and fire chiefs desperate for some way to rebuild volunteer crews inspired the bill, she said.

While their numbers are shrinking, volunteers still protect 97 percent of Pennsylvania's geography, the fourth highest rate in the country, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. By comparison, Delaware leads at 98 percent.

Estimates from a 2004 Senate report that made 23 recommendations to improve the state's support of volunteers show if Pennsylvania had to rely completely on paid fire and EMS service, the cost to taxpayers would exceed $6 billion.

The report proposed incentives including college tuition reimbursements for younger volunteers and tax credits for business owners who let their employees go out on emergency calls.

For the whole package, the report estimates a minimum $20 million annual commitment from Harrisburg, a figure that threatens to stifle their efforts.

"Our big challenge has always been trying to come up with the resources," Ms. Baker said.

Contact the writer: joconnell@timesshamrock.com, @jon_oc on Twitter