College Students May Live in Station
Here is an innovative way to ensure enough firefighters are around to cover calls without having to hire full-time firefighters (from the Concord Monitor via FireFightingNews.com).
College students would live at the Newmarket fire station rent-free in exchange for covering emergency calls under a plan designed to save money and maintain the town's all-volunteer force.Chief Rick Malasky hasn't worked out all the details yet, but he said the second floor of the new fire station could be renovated to accommodate up to eight men and four women who would be responsible for a certain number of on-call hours each week, particularly during weekdays when the personnel shortage is at its worst.
Town councilors like the idea, especially since it would cost about $1 million less over five years than hiring four full-time firefighters.
It's a great idea if there is a college in your town.
Chief Relies on Older Volunteers
Have you ever thought about the ages of the volunteers in your department? Here is a story about that question from The Patriot-News via FireFightingNews.com:
Like most chiefs of volunteer fire companies, Bill Carlisle has seen the number of volunteers dwindle.Carlisle, 31, joined the Fairview Twp. Fire Department 13 years ago. "You used to have to fight to get a seat on the fire truck, we had so many volunteers," he said.
Things are different these days, but Carlisle has an ace up his sleeve.
He calls them his AARP crew, although the five members of the group have nothing official to do with the association of older people.
They only qualify because of their age.
The five are sort of Fairview Twp.'s Marines, first to arrive at the "battleground."
"The younger guys all work during the day. These guys are retired. They're often the first ones at the fire, and sometimes they put it out all by themselves," Carlisle said.
I haven't seen any official data on this issue, but I'm guessing that as the baby boomers get older, the average age of volunteer firefighters will also increase.
Volunteer Firefighter Numbers Dropping
This article from USA Today confirms something that most of the volunteer firefighters knew already: our numbers are dropping big time.
PENN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — It took 26 fire companies from three counties last year to fight the fire at Dino's Grille, a two-story wood structure that ignited on a hot Tuesday morning in this town outside Harrisburg. The local volunteer chief still fumes just thinking about it.When Monte Supko arrived at the scene, he signaled other volunteer departments in the area for help. He needed firefighters. But what he got, mostly, was firetrucks — many with only one or two people aboard.
By the time sufficient manpower was assembled and the fire extinguished, Dino's was a smoking wreck. "A parade of half-million dollar firetrucks didn't help much," he says. "I got mad, because we've waited so long to address the problem."
The problem is this: The volunteer fire company, an institution that dates to Ben Franklin, is slowly going the way of the horse-drawn pumper.
Interesting stuff and it hits the nail right on the head. There are pictures too. Check it out.
Volunteer Department Gets New Members
I read lots of articles about volunteer departments having a difficult time recruiting enough members. Here is an article (from citizensvoice.com) about a department that is actually growing their membership.
Two years ago, the Honey Pot Fire Company had a difficult time attracting enough members to form a quorum for company meetings.Today, fire company association president Chester Kopco has a hard time finding enough equipment for all the people volunteering to serve on the fire company. Not that he is complaining.
Read the rest of the article to find out how they are getting new members.
Firefighters Needed For Katrina Disaster
FEMA is asking for 1,000 two-person teams of firefighters to aid in the recovery effort in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. From the IAFC:
Due to FEMA/DHS policies and requirements, the initial teams will be limited to career firefighters and must be selected and approved by the chief of the department. Teams will need to be physically fit and capable of working in very austere conditions for an extended period of time – sleeping on the ground, eating MRE’s. They will need to pack carry-on baggage only – backpacks are recommended. Teams will be working for at least a 30-day period.
If you want to lend a hand, read the whole press release.
I'm betting that FEMA will issue additional calls for firefighters as this recovery effort continues. They will need people for an extended period of time. If you think you may want to help, start making plans now so that you can go when they issue additional calls for help.
New Zealand Faces Volunteer Shortage
It looks like the U.S. isn't the only country where volunteer fire departments are short of firefighters. Check out this article from the Ashburton Guardian.
Your volunteer fire brigade needs you. Volunteers are needed as rural brigades across Mid Canterbury find themselves struggling to make up numbers for call-outs during the day as work takes volunteers out of the area.Mayfield chief fire officer Ian Feilder said the problem of attracting a full reserve of volunteers was discussed at last night’s annual meeting of the brigade held at the Mayfield Rugby Clubrooms.
“New members are always welcome,” he said. “Our biggest problem, as with most brigades, is during the middle of the day.”Mr Feilder said while the situation was not dire for Mayfield, rural brigades often struggled to have enough members to respond to a call-out in the middle of the day.
“At Mt Somers they have real big problems.”
Chief fire officer Barry Kerr confirmed Mt Somers was under pressure between 7am and 7pm.“We just haven’t got the men in the village during the day to run the brigade,” he said. “The day’s going to come when there’s not going to be enough to go out.”
Sound familiar? Those paragraphs could have been cut from any number of U.S. newspapers, except for the N.Z. lingo like "brigade" and "call-out".
Youth Firefighting Programs
Here is an article from News 10 in Syracuse, NY, about the possiblity of the Trumansburg fire department recruiting kids as a young as 16.
At age sixteen there are a lot of firsts. You get your driver's license and take the SAT's. For Mike Meskill, he also wants to be a volunteer firefighter. If the Trumansburg Fire Department gets their way, he will be able to do just that. They are trying to lower the minimum volunteer age to 16.
There are many established programs out their for youth to be active in firefighting by joining a fire explorer post. Check out the Fire Service Exploring website for details.
The main issue I see here is safety. The fire ground is a dangerous place and it is difficult enough to keep adults from doing stupid things. How much more difficult is it to keep teenagers from getting into injured or killed?
What are your thoughts on this issue? Are sixteen-year-olds too young to be firefighters, even on a limited basis?
Union Advises Firefighters not to Volunteer
I may not have the needed perspective here, but this just seems wrong to me (from Firefighting News):
The president of a New York City firefighter's union is advising his members not to serve as volunteer firefighters. In his monthly online report, Uniformed Fire Officers Association President of Local 854 Peter Gorman told members not to be volunteer firefighters in their home communities. He says the so-called "two-hatters" could jeopardize union health benefits if they got sick or injured on their volunteer jobs, reported New York City cable news channel NY1.
It seems to me that the union is telling firefighters what they can do on their own time.
