In addition to struggles with rising equipment costs, increases in emergency calls and keeping up with new training, Arkansas volunteer fire departments are facing challenges with recruiting new members.
It’s a trend the state’s 900 volunteer departments have seen for the past decade, and as current volunteer firefighters age there is a smaller pool of replacements, said Travis Cooper, secretary for the Arkansas Rural and Volunteer Firefighters Association.
The average age of an Arkansas volunteer firefighter is between 60 and 65, according to Cooper.
“Our volunteers are eager to respond to calls, but recruiting new volunteers is difficult,” he said. “I still get young people who are not aware of the concept of volunteering. They think someone is going to get paid to do it. They don’t realize the individual who works at Wal-Mart or somewhere else is also a volunteer firefighter.”
Curtis Miller, the fire chief of the Philadelphia Volunteer Fire Department in Craighead County, recently held a recruitment drive to re-man his department of about 20 members. He posted information on the department’s Facebook page and talked with others.
It worked. Miller said four new firefighters joined his department as a result.
“It’s hard recruiting,” said Miller, who has been with the Fire Department for 40 years. “A lot of people, when they come in, are expecting excitement all the time. They think they will be putting out a lot of fires.
“When they find out it’s more humdrum, and they’re not going on fire calls often, they get out. Unless they are vested in their communities, they’re not interested enough to stick with it.”
Those who are interested may not be able to volunteer, Cooper said.
Many potential recruits leave rural towns for jobs in cities and are not available to battle fires, and others who remain in their communities may have two jobs and little time to volunteer.
“There are more economic struggles put on us in rural communities,” Cooper said. “We’re busy trying to provide for our families. An ice cream cone that used to cost 10 cents now costs $2.20. People need to work.”
Volunteer fire departments used to be composed of families, with rosters of members that read like a list of generations. Miller was recruited by his brother. Scores of departments include father-and-son combinations.
Chris Fryar, the former chief and a current member of the Oden-Pencil Bluff Volunteer Fire Department in Montgomery County, said his department once thrived on family members.
“There was a time when we’d get groups of families,” he said. “We’d have son-in-laws, wives, daughters.
“Now we’re seeing a generation of kids growing up and leaving,” Fryar said. “They go on to college and move on.”
Fryar said he remembers when he would battle house fires and people who weren’t with the volunteer department would show up to help haul fire hoses and provide water and food for firefighters. That doesn’t happen as often now, he said.
“We’ve become a ‘me-only’ society,” Miller added. “People are self-absorbed and don’t want to share their time.”
The National Volunteer Fire Council, a nonprofit organization based in Greenbelt, Md., began a national recruitment campaign two years ago to help departments find new members.
“Volunteer departments are facing a lot of challenges,” council spokesman Kimberly Quiros said. “A lot of smaller departments are struggling to get volunteers. We are wanting to raise awareness in communities.”
Quiros said a study conducted by the fire council revealed that 79 percent of those questioned didn’t know fire departments needed volunteers.
Volunteers make up about 70 percent of all firefighters in the United States, she said. Of the 29,980 fire departments in the country, 19,915 are volunteer. Members of volunteer fire departments save municipalities about $140 billion a year in firefighters’ salaries, equipment and training, she said.
“There’s a balancing act that volunteer departments are facing between traditional times and the need to adapt to current times,” Quiros said.
There is a high interest nationally among people ages 18-34 in volunteering, but the additional time needed for training and for fundraising are daunting, she said. Many volunteer fire departments are also first-responder units, meaning that in addition to responding to fire calls, members respond to medical emergencies, accidents, hazardous material situations and natural disasters.
“Many people who live in rural communities are commuting to work, or they are moving out,” she said. “There’s not as much time anymore.”
Quiros suggested volunteer firefighters go to local schools to recruit younger members.
“The root of fire service is generational,” Quiros said. “The best way to recruit is by personal invitation. If you can get members who are young, they will stay with departments.”
Cooper said younger members are an asset because of technical changes in firefighting techniques.
“It’s all high-tech,” he said. “We have touch screens and Wi-Fi. It’s all digital when we log fires. Our volunteer generation is now calling for more experience and knowledge in electronics.
“We still need community involvement,” Cooper said. “I still see young people who are not aware that they can be part of a fire department. They can play a role in their community if they want to.
“They just don’t realize that.”