PITTSBURGH PA Editorial: Addressing the complicated volunteer firefighting crisis 2/1/2023

mack said:

View attachment 31186​


www.post-gazette.com

Editorial: Addressing the complicated volunteer firefighting crisis

The dominant firefighting model for southwestern Pennsylvania — numerous small volunteer departments — is no longer suited to the region. It’s...
www.post-gazette.com www.post-gazette.com
Click to expand...
That article really doesn't say anything about how to correct the problem and really doesn't even say what the cause of the problem is other than to any small governments. I was hoping it would have some creative solutions but all it really did was say that maybe the Lieut. Gov. can solve the problem?
 
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.
 
Capttomo said:
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.
Click to expand...
Perfectly said! You can't buy love.
 
Your statement about driving away volunteers wants to start putting paid firefighters on it's very true. The department I used to be in outside of Rochester New York was all volunteer when I was in and we had 4 stations with about 300+ volunteers. Each station had 2 engines and a rescue or an engine, a ladder and a rescue. The district now has 7 stations and eventually taken over an adjoining small district. 4 of the 7 stations have full paid crews 24/7 with the other 3 stations still being volunteer. All of the volunteers that his only have one engine and a rescue in the paid stations all have an engine +2 of them also have a quint. They also have 2 district chiefs, a battalion chief shift, a department safety officer, a department training officer (both captains) and 2 mechanics. Unfortunately, they are buried in EMS calls and calls to service for a large university in the district. Also unfortunately, the University does not have to pay any property taxes so the rest of the towns taxes have increased dramatically for the fire service! The station I was in used to have about 60 firefighters all volunteers, now they have less than 20 and probably only about 10 of those are really active. The paid firefighters really looked down the volunteers and 90% of the time say that they will handle it and then the volunteers back. It's becoming a significant problem in so many ways.
 
Capttomo said:
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.
Click to expand...
Right on target. Thank you for excellent response.
 
I know many small and mid sized departments in the south that function on a shoestring budget and would be out of service with the loss of one or two members. My current department is a combination department that utilizes 24 hour crews, 8 hour crews, live in and paid on call. We have 14 stations with only two stations crewed 24/7, two crewed 8/7, two with live in firefighter. The remainder are crewed by paid on call volunteers. WE just held interviews for volunteers and part of the interview was reading them the department and state requirements that ALL members must meet. We approved 18 applicants with many wanting to make the fire service a career. So we accept the fact that we are a training stepping stone for the fire service in the state. If we get 2 years out of a volly, we are happy.
 
I venture to say most all-volunteer departments in the country fall into the demographics below:

Population 20,000 or less
Stations 1 to 3
Calls 750 or less per year

With that being said, here is what I would concentrate on:

No EMS - PD runs first response, private ambulance or town/city ambulance

Benefit - Offer town/city medical benefits to volunteers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top