The state reported earlier this year a 6.5% decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters between 2018 and 2021.
Part of the reason for the decline is the changing nature of the job. Though the exact percentages vary by department, more and more fire departments take on a larger number of calls for EMS service compared to firefighting. Firefighters also respond to car crashes, investigate alarms and odors, and provide standby medical assistance for sporting events, in addition to regular fire and EMS.
At the Cedarville Twp. Volunteer Fire Department, the estimated split is 70% EMS calls, and 30% fires and other services, according to chief Kyle Miller. Of the department’s 32 volunteer firefighters, including 10 students at Cedarville University, about half serve as both firefighters and EMTs.
Cedarville Twp. is one of the more well-off volunteer departments locally, in part because of the university, but still Miller says he’d prefer to have around 45 firefighters on staff.
“Probably about two years ago, that’s kind of where we started to decline,” he said. “Though we always go through this especially with with having so many students.”
In very suburban Beavercreek Twp., roughly 85% of services are for EMS, 14% for other services, and just 1% for active house or car fires.
“We are an EMS department that puts out fires,” Beavercreek Twp. Fire Chief David VandenBos said.
As the job becomes more complex, the training required becomes more intense — and the equipment required more expensive.
A person must complete 160 hours of training for their Firefighter I certification, and another 160 for a Firefighter II certification, according to Ohio EMS, the governing state agency for the service.
Volunteer firefighters must complete 36 hours of training, and all personnel are also required to do ongoing education. Many of them don’t get paid anything, but some operate on a “pay-per-run” or a stipend for working certain hours.
Many volunteers also have to pay for their own training and their own equipment, according to the state’s report. The typical cost for training can range from a few hundred dollars to over $1,000, while equipment costs can reach as much as $4,000.
Volunteer fire departments, especially rural departments, often don’t have the money to outfit volunteer firefighters with gear, or rely on grants to do so.
“That was another challenge that departments were facing is, ‘Hey, we’d love to have you, but we don’t have the money to pay for your training. And we don’t have the money to buy you the gear you need to protect yourself. So yes, please come volunteer with us, but go spend $1,000 to come to a job that’s not going to pay you anything back, and you might die,” said Miller.
Recommended changes
Even for those who are enthusiastic about the prospect, many would-be volunteers simply don’t have the time. Training requires taking time away from one’s actual jobs to complete, which can be problematic for both employers and the fire service.
“The training requirements are...more (hours) than what most people are doing as a volunteer activity,” VandenBos said. “They don’t have time to dedicate to it because they have a life, they have a job, a family. Obviously you don’t want untrained people handling emergencies, but at the same time, if you’re expecting somebody to do it for free or close to free, that’s a pretty big burden.”
The state has taken steps to remedy the situation. The Ohio State Fire Marshal recently announced it was waiving Ohio Fire Academy fees for volunteer firefighters. The move, a product of the State Fire Marshal’s Volunteer Firefighter Task Force, allows firefighters to train for free in an attempt to shore up volunteer departments.
Other recommendations from the task force that were implemented into the legislative budget include hiring a full-time volunteer coordinator within the Division of State Fire Marshal, increasing grant dollars for training and equipment, and broadening eligibility for “Firefighter Exposure to Environmental Elements” grants which supply emergency response “turnout” gear for volunteer fire departments, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Other task force recommendations, released in January, include allowing state employees 16 hours of paid leave per month for volunteer fire department emergency calls and training, exploring hybrid options for certain types of training, tuition vouchers, and launching a volunteer cadet program, among others.
While concerns have been raised about public safety in rural communities, networks of mutual aid are enough to cover these gaps, local fire officials say.
For example, systems with Greene County Central Dispatch automatically alert departments in a given radius, following a “bullseye effect” if certain departments are indisposed, said Chief Greg Beegle of the Xenia Twp. Fire Department.
“So when the call comes in, all those apparatuses and all the stations are alerted simultaneously, and the trucks roll out of the station,” he said.
Nonetheless, the lack of candidates is an industry-wide problem, as the volunteer service has traditionally been a pipeline to becoming a professional firefighter, a role that smaller, majority part-time departments like Xenia Twp. are now filling. Firefighters get their training with part-time departments, and move to bigger cities that pay better.
“This offers an opportunity for new people with a lack of experience to come in and get that job experience and development, and in time to move on to other departments,” Beegle said. “We just can’t compete with larger salaries and that’s okay.”
At the local level, several departments have introduced initiatives to recruit and retain firefighters. Beavercreek Twp.’s fire cadet program is open to high school students.
Local departments transitioning
Departments have also had to make adjustments. In March, Tipp City narrowly voted to transition from a volunteer fire department to a professional department, and Miami County earlier this year resolved to use American Rescue Plan Act funds to study the county’s 14 Fire and EMS services to figure out how they could better coordinate.
The city of Lebanon is also seeking funding to transition its part-time fire department to a full-time department amid staffing woes. Since 2018, Lebanon has hired 45 different part-time personnel with only 13 left on the part-time roster. Of the 32 firefighters that left, the average tenure was 15 months, the Dayton Daily News reported in June.
At Beavercreek Twp., change has come in the form of the types of professionals hired to do the job. Previously, the requirement for EMS employment at the department was a paramedic certification. Now, the township also hires EMT basics, and often those individuals are then offered training to earn their full paramedic licensure. EMT basics can’t administer certain types of medications, and must be accompanied by a paramedic on a call.
While this strategy relieves some of the pressure of the staffing shortage, it can still lead to burnout among paramedics, VandenBos said.
“We’d prefer a paramedic if we can get them, and we try and manage our staff so we don’t have too many basics relative to paramedics,” he said.
Because of the scarcity, firefighters or young people seeking to enter the career field at this point in history are able to earn a decent living with not a lot of student debt. Data from the Dayton Daily News’ Payroll Project shows firefighters in some cities make on average $70,000 a year.
“It’s pretty good deal for them, but I don’t think that’s what pulls them in,” VandenBos said. “We’re getting a number of kids in our cadet program, as an example, that are getting interested in high school because they don’t want to have the Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30 office job, and they enjoy the activity and the camaraderie.”
“I have yet to meet any of our guys that have said, ‘Yeah, I’m doing it because you guys make good money,’” he added.
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