Unfortunately our society has changed. Kids are told they must go to college to succeed. They come out 4 years later thinking they deserve a 6 figure job right away, entry level positions at Starbucks and McDonalds want $15-20 an hour to start, so many young adults are living at home until 30+, the military is having a very difficult time meeting recruitment goals, a large portion of our population wants everything for free , wipe out my college debt. As long as they have their iPhones with social media and on line gaming consoles they are happy and unproductive. Those that do want to get ahead must work two jobs to pay for all those that want free stuff. In areas like Rockland county NY ( all volunteer), cops are retiring with 200k + pensions, school teachers with longevity make $150k and propert taxes are $10-15000 a year. So who has time to train 4 hours once a week after work and get up in the middle of the night when they have work in the morning? Many see it as just not worth it. Sense of community? Public service. Those traits are rapidly becoming obsolete. Hell, recent news article describe churches nationwide closing down at an unbelievable rate. We live in a materialistic society of individuals who want to know what’s in it for me. Corporate greed, and other public safety employees receiving handsome salaries and tremendous benefits while they do it for free just ain’t cutting it anymore. Back to Rockland County, most of the volunteer ambulance corps in the county now have paid daytime crews. Many of these volunteer firefighters wake up one day and realize working two jobs and trying to raise a family is too hard to do. I was a volunteer many years ago and cherish the experiences and memories. The volunteer firehouse was a social club as well as an emergency response agency. On drill nights we would hang out until 11pm socializing. Every week day we had the 5 o’clock club where daytime workers on their way home stopped in to have a drink and socialize before going home for dinner. Clambakes, memorial and Labor Day BBQ. It was not unlike any other social groups such as the Elks, knight’s of Columbus, moose lodge etc. but my friends that are still there tell me those days are long gone. It is very sad. Unfortunately, $500 bonuses, free gym memberships, and even the recently enacted 10% reduction in local property taxes for volunteers in NYS aren’t going to do much to increase the volunteer ranks. Counties in NY, NJ, PA, MD, CT, DE, are loaded with multi million dollar modern firehouses stacked with the most modern and expensive apparatus. But these places have a very tough time turning out crews. Allegheny County PA has 3 times the number of apparatus among the scores and scores of departments then the entire FDNY does. The only answer in many places will be the addition of paid firefighters either part time or full time which will be self defeating because it will drive more existing volunteers away. Truly sad state of our nation. God bless those that continue to volunteer- you are a special breed. Stay safe.
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