By Stephen Smoot
Last weekend, the South Fork Volunteer Fire Department held its annual lawn party. While visitors, especially kids, enjoyed the fun and games, the main purpose of the event lay in the serious business of keeping the department funded for the future.
Volunteer fire departments across West Virginia carry more than the lion’s share of responsibility for protecting lives and property while also containing and eradicating wildfires. The Mountain State, according to the United States Fire Administration, ranks third in the nation with more than 90 percent of departments fully staffed by volunteers. About 4.6 percent have mixed units and only 1.4 percent, good for 10th in the nation among the lowest numbers, are fully staffed by career professionals.
That may change rapidly. As WVNS reported last year, the number of volunteers in the fire service nationally has dropped from about 900,000 in 1984 to 677,000. Volunteers still make up more than two thirds of firefighters nationwide. Also, about 18,900 of the 29,452 fire companies across the nation employ only volunteers.
The coming crisis in emergency response volunteerism presents challenges to both urban and rural counties. In a June 4 meeting of the Harrison County Commission, David Hinkle, commissioner, proposed that the county engage an outside firm to study that jurisdiction’s fire service capacities as volunteerism has dwindled there as well. The goal would lie in coming up with the total cost of maintaining the same level of service from departments manned entirely by career paid professionals.
It must be noted that volunteers meet the same standards as the paid services.
Volunteer fire departments face two major challenges in funding and finding personnel going forward. Volunteers and aspiring firefighter, Sarah Nelson, churn homemade ice cream for Franklin Volunteer Fire Department’s upcoming lawn party, a major fundraiser.
Harrison County Commission president, Susan Thomas, stated that a study would serve as a way to also examine “the best way to fund this.”
Hinkle shared that lack of volunteers afflicted the Harrison County departments as much as anyone else. He shared that in his younger years that he himself had served as a volunteer firefighter, but that age and increasing commitments kept him from continuing.
Most volunteer fire departments face the same three issues. Hardy County Commission president, Steven Schetrom, shared that “declining volunteerism” represents one struggle, but rising costs of equipment and other necessities plus “uncertainty related to permanent funding solutions” places pressures as well.
Although Hardy County, Schetrom explained, must contend with those three issues, additionally “it faces increased pressure because it is so rural.” Rural services face extra problems, he stated, because though rural areas generally have lower overall costs for typical needs. “Hardy County still has to pay the market cost for needed fire equipment.”
Mike Alt, who serves as both training officer for the Pendleton County Emergency Rescue and chief of the Upper Tract Volunteer Fire Department, echoed that concern, stating that the cost of any usable apparatus starts at $500,000. He said that most departments must settle for “quality used equipment, if you can find it.”
As Schetrom explained, the Producer Price Index “for machinery and equipment increased by 19 percent between January 2020 and March 2023.” Despite the sharp spike in prices “local fire department funding levels did not increase by a corresponding amount.”
Rising prices, he went on to add “will continue to put significant pressure, maybe existential pressure, on rural fire departments like those in Hardy County.”
Alt stated that at UTVFD “we get our $55,000 from the state and $1,500 from local governments with the rest coming from donations.” While fundraisers represent a large part of a department’s budget, Alt said, “You have to run your fundraisers as a business. If you don’t, you’re going to fail.”
That means understanding that efforts run up against limited resources, such as the time of personnel, the local capacity to participate, and the patience of supporters to participate in fundraising events. Operate too many fundraising drives, such as filling the boot or mailing campaigns and “you run it into the ground.” Also, “I can’t run a spaghetti dinner and run a … call for grandma at the same time,” Alt commented.
Equipment and vehicle costs continue to mount for all departments. South Fork Volunteer Fire Department in Brandywine last fall received delivery of a used tanker to augment their fleet. At the time, Jeff Bowers, SFVFD president, shared that “community support is real big.” He cited their annual lawn party as an important community and fundraising event. Also “the fall letter drive is a real big help.” Despite all that, the department still needed a grant to fill in the rest of the cost.
Roy Bowers, chief of the SFVFD, said last fall that “we needed something more reliable because all our trucks are getting age on them.” Other departments in Pendleton County have similar equipment in service for decades. He stated that “the oldest pumper is in Sugar Grove” and it was manufactured when Richard Nixon was president.
Volunteer fire departments also rely heavily on their auxiliary organizations. Almost every department has stripped their monikers of the name “ladies” because a number of men have joined the ranks of these groups to pitch in and help where needed. They run the fundraising drives, put together the lawn parties and chicken barbeques that bring needed funds to departments.
All the equipment in the world cannot help a department without sufficient firefighters. Schetrom noted that as volunteerism declines nationally “more pressure is placed on existing volunteers and many of them are aging out.”
Alt cited the decline of firefighting families as part of the problem The SVFD relies heavily on the leadership and experience of the Bowers family members involvement. Franklin VFD’s Brian DiFalco is also seeing two of his sons work to become part of that service. This phenomenon that served as the backbone of many houses has fallen off in recent generations.
Alt also notes that the era of pushing as many students toward college has led to a loss of status and respect for the fundamental jobs that society needs. Alt said, “Where do you read anything where the cop is good anymore?” Bringing back a culture where the law enforcement officer, the firefighter, and the paramedic or EMT have the highest levels of respect will help all of those fields recruit better.
After all, Alt says, the paid career services such as those in Fairfax County, Virginia, have also seen significant loss of interest in the field.
In meetings of the Pendleton County Commission, Rick Gillespie, emergency services coordinator, and Alt have repeatedly pointed out another frustration of rural services that form a barrier to recruitment and retention. The state continues to mandate more trainings, but rarely holds them in locations convenient to those in the Potomac Highlands.
Volunteer personnel with full time jobs and family commitments struggle to crisscross the state to attend needed lengthy and costly trainings.
Schetrom stated that “we have to be creative in finding ways to incentivize volunteerism” that could include “educational programs in schools.” He has also conducted his own research into locating fire departments that have bucked the trend and increased the interest of potential volunteers.
He shared the example of John Buchan, chief of the Florissant Volunteer Fire Department in Colorado. For Buchan, it made sense to restrict the official title of “firefighter” to those that specifically carried out that work. In many states, that title comes with a full slate of training and other requirements. Those who performed other tasks, but did not specifically fight fires, received other titles and, therefore needed less training or none at all.
He also implemented a policy to purchase fuel in bulk at lower prices while furthermore remodeling a dayroom with bunks, flat screen television sets with multiple streaming services, and more creature comforts to encourage personnel to stay overnight.
In this way, he turned a volunteer department into a near full-time operation because volunteers “want to be here.”
Such changes have caused the number of volunteers to double from 30 to 60 while costing taxpayers nothing. He told his local media, “The last thing I want to do is ask the taxpayers for more money.”
The lack of funding solutions to keep up with costs plus the specter of needing to replace volunteers with career paid professionals has pushed concerns about an impending crisis.
“These challenges will become more pronounced in the next five to 10 years, putting increased pressure on local and state leaders to provide permanent funding solutions for local fire departments,” said Schetrom.
