By Kimberly Pistone
SIDNEY — Ohio has a long history of volunteer fire departments. The state’s first volunteer fire house was established in 1851, predating the establishment of the first professional (career) fire department in the United States, which was in Cincinnati in 1853. Nearly 200 years later, volunteer fire departments still serve 70% of Ohio. This tradition of service is facing new challenges as the number of volunteers decrease while the number of emergency calls increase. These factors place many Ohio communities at risk of not having emergency services when needed.
With the challenges that volunteer fire departments are currently facing, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine established the Ohio Task Force on Volunteer Fire Service in April 2022. The task force’s purpose is to discuss focus areas impacting the state, including recruitment and retention, training, and financial stability. The task force’s recommendation report is due to the governor in June 2023.
While Sidney has a full-time career fire department, the rest of Shelby County is covered by 10 volunteer departments. Each of these departments has its own coverage area and provides mutual aid for structure fires and other emergency calls as needed.
Shelby County is struggling with the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters, the same as many other volunteer fire departments across the state. The two main factors contributing to this reduction in the number of volunteers include the time commitment required and the financial burden, both in expenses to become a firefighter and lost compensation for time away from work.
Becoming a firefighter
Becoming a firefighter requires a minimum level of training and the acquisition of personal protection equipment (PPE). Ohio has three levels of firefighter training. The first level is mandatory and requires 36 hours of training. Many Shelby County volunteers choose to complete additional training. Volunteers can opt for 120 additional hours of training to reach Firefighter I (FFI) status. The next level is Firefighter II (FFII), requiring 240 hours of training, and is the minimum requirement to become a professional firefighter. Volunteers who reach the FFII level often do so as a step to becoming a career firefighter.
Many volunteer firefighters in Ohio have to shoulder the expenses of training and equipment. The volunteer fire departments in Shelby County have been fortunate as they are able to cover these costs through levies, state grants, and fundraisers. Training costs range from $500 to $1,500. Turnout gear, a firefighter’s PPE which includes the protective pants, coat, gloves, and helmet, can cost from $3,000 to $6,000. Funds collected by levies, grants and fundraisers have also covered additional training to bring many of the local volunteers to FFI or FFII status.
Time to be a volunteer
The main difficulty facing Shelby County when recruiting volunteer firefighters is time availability – not only the time required for training, but the time needed as an active volunteer.
“In times past, businesses had a workforce that could support volunteers leaving for volunteer tasks. But now most businesses have streamlined and it is harder to release a volunteer randomly to do emergency calls. Also, historically people worked where they lived. But now many people have a much larger commute,” Sidney Fire Chief Chad Hollinger said.
Two overarching themes emerge — the inability to leave paying jobs to volunteer for an emergency and the longer commute from work to reach an emergency — and were echoed by many of the local volunteer fire chiefs.
Port Jefferson Community Fire Company Chief Tom Fitchpatrick said most of his volunteers work in factories. When Fitchpatrick first joined the fire department in 1985, he could leave his factory job for an emergency and still get paid for an eight hour day. But now if he leaves work, he will not get paid unless he takes vacation time. “Factories used to embrace volunteers,” Fitchpatrick said.
Port Jefferson has a staff of 14 volunteers and responded to 75 calls in 2022. They relied on mutual aid from other fire departments to meet the demand of their daytime calls because volunteers were unable to leave their day jobs in order to respond.
Lockington Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) Chief Jon Adams agreed it is hard to get volunteers to respond during the day.
“State law provides some job protection for volunteer firefighters. Companies are not allowed to fire (terminate) you if you are late because of an emergency call, but they don’t have to let you leave to go to a fire,” Adams said.
Leaving work for an emergency
One of the businesses that employs these volunteers allows employees to leave for an emergency; however, they are located 20 minutes away, making timely emergency response difficult.
Lockington VFD responded to 105 calls last year with their 17 volunteers. “Our biggest challenge is staffing. We need people. We have excellent equipment and tools,” Adams said.
In addition to firefighters, Lockington VFD needs auxiliary volunteers. An auxiliary volunteer is anyone who wants to help in any capacity, not just firefighters.
“If a CPA called, we would find a way for them to help. If someone wanted to volunteer to mow the yard, we could use them, too,” Adams said.
Last year the Botkins Fire Department’s 24 volunteer firefighters responded to 126 calls, many on the interstate.
“Fifteen years ago, we had 10-15 firefighters available during the day. Now we are lucky to have three to six available during the day,” Botkins Fire Chief Tom Glass said.
Botkins Fire has fewer volunteers now due to retirement, people moving, or shifting priorities due to family. Glass echoed the statewide challenges with the increase in calls combined with a reduction in volunteers.
“If you get three to five years out of a volunteer — that is pretty good. They leave for a career firefighter job, or because they are starting a family and want to settle down and not spend so much time away,” Jackson Center Volunteer Fire Chief Braden Lotz said.
Jackson Center VFD responded to 85 calls last year with 15 volunteers. Several of their volunteers also work as village employees and can leave for an emergency during the day, including the police chief who doubles as a volunteer.
The Houston Fire Department responded to 49 calls in 2022 with their 20 volunteers. Chief Jeff Poeppelman has been with the Houston Fire Department for 24 years. He reiterated how the time commitment impacts volunteers.
“There are not a lot of people willing to put that much time and effort into a volunteer scenario. It is harder to get volunteers, especially when you have to go through 36 or 120 hours of training to do a job for free. It takes a special kind of person to do that,” Poeppelman said.
Russia firefighters respond 24 hours a day
Some communities in Shelby County do not struggle with these same difficulties. Volunteers in these communities tend to remain local and have employers that allow volunteers to leave for emergency calls.
“Russia is an anomaly,” Fire Chief Tom Phlipot of the Russia Community Fire Company said. “A lot of firefighters live and work in Russia and are able to respond 24 hours a day. Russia includes a lot of family owned businesses that allow employees to leave and respond.”
Russia VFD has 29 volunteer firefighters and responded to 98 calls last year.
The Fort Loramie Community Fire Company responded to 158 calls in 2022 with their 40 volunteers. Still they struggle with having enough volunteers; the same firefighters are showing up all the time and face burnout.
“We are fortunate in our community with a few large businesses that are cooperative and let their employees off during the day,” Fire Chief Brad Schulze said.
Fire Chief Jeff Noah of the Maplewood Community Fire Company (CFC) said his nine volunteers were able to make all 35 of their calls last year. Most of the Maplewood volunteer firefighters work locally and two of the firefighters are able to stay on the clock at their jobs when they leave for an emergency. Even so, Maplewood CFC needs more volunteers.
“Come out and volunteer. We will put you through classes to become a firefighter. We need help,” Noah said. Even if someone is unable to become a volunteer firefighter, they can use help with things like fundraisers and cleaning.
Kettlersville Van Buren Township Fire Department’s 33 firefighters responded to 101 calls last year. Daytime calls can be met by a handful of Kettlersville FD’s volunteers who work nights or by the few who are able to leave their job to go to an emergency during the day.
“The biggest challenge that we face is getting new members on the department. There are usually plenty of people interested, but when they find out the time commitment to become certified, it can scare some people off,” Fire Chief Jim Cain said.
A supportive community
Daytime staffing for emergencies is a challenge at the Anna Fire Department; there are only a few of the 29 volunteer firefighters that are able to meet emergency needs during the day. The week of Christmas 2022, they had 12 calls — some critical.
“We are incredibly lucky to have such a supportive community,” Anna Fire Chief Tim Bender said. “People shook our hands and acknowledged that volunteers were missing family events. The guys really appreciated that acknowledgement.”
The volunteers also appreciate that every time they have a fundraiser, especially their Christmas fundraiser when they help a family in need, the community shows up to support them.
The Ohio Task Force on Volunteer Fire Services released their initial report on Feb. 2. Suggestions for all three focus areas (recruitment/retention, training and financial stability) are included.
Many of their suggestions can be included in the executive budget without raising taxes or fees. These items include developing a series of volunteer firefighter recruitment public service announcements, waiving state fire marshal academy fees for volunteer firefighters, and increasing grants. Additional items will require legislative support and include state income tax credits, local property tax abatements, new grant programs, and a volunteer cadet program.
State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon, working in partnership with DeWine on the Ohio Task Force on Volunteer Fire Service, stressed the importance of volunteerism.
“Volunteer fire departments rely on people to volunteer. Traditionally, volunteer fire departments get people who want to move to career. That is always going to happen. But what we are missing is the average member of the community who wants to volunteer. The number of people who want to just serve their community has drastically gone down,” Reardon said.
“The biggest issue across the state is recruitment of young people in public service. In Shelby County, volunteerism is fairly robust. Shelby County values community. Non-profits and food banks receive both time and money. We are fortunate,” Hollinger said. He added the Shelby County fire chiefs have done an exceptional job of keeping healthy volunteer rosters compared to the other 87 counties in Ohio.
The need for volunteers
Still, the volunteer fire departments in Shelby County need volunteers.
“If you are willing and capable, inquire about volunteering. We are always looking for volunteers,” Poeppelman said.
Adams had an additional suggestion for people to help. “Follow our Facebook page. You can learn about fundraisers and special events there.”
Every one of the Shelby County fire departments has a Facebook page where people can learn about their fundraisers.
Cain added, “The local communities in Shelby County do a great job of supporting all organizations. They can continue that. Show up at our fundraising events. Support the levies as they come up.”
Individuals interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter should contact their local volunteer fire department. Individuals must obtain a certification to provide firefighting services in the state of Ohio, be at least 18 years old, pass a background check, and meet minimum health standards.
