Alarming Shortage: the nation is facing a critical shortage of firefighters
The number of calls to fire departments increases every year. Meanwhile, the number of firefighters is falling. The shortage has placed some communities at serious risk. Sinclair national investigative correspondent Mark Hyman has the details on just what’s going on.
On a somber morning in east Alabama, a community gathers as a firefighter plays ‘taps’ on a bugle.
Each year, firefighters and community members come together to pay respects to their department’s only fallen firefighter. That 1977 day Roger Brookshire died is a moment fellow firefighter Steve Tucker will never forget.
“Instinctively just pulled him to the side and started doing CPR on Captain Brookshire,” Tucker recalled. “72,000 volts of electricity. He didn't make it.”
“Worst day of my life,” Retired Chief Steve Tucker.
Mark Hyman asked, “It's a solemn day for you, isn't it?”
“Worst day of my life,” Tucker replied.
Firefighters like Steve Tucker and Mara Halley do the job with eyes wide open.
“There's a risk of death, higher risk of cancer, [and] exposure to bloodborne pathogens," Firefighter Mara Halley.
Halley explained several of the risks facing today’s firefighters. “There's a risk of death, higher risk of cancer, exposure to bloodborne pathogens and other infectious diseases. It's also very mentally challenging and we've seen a rise in mental health issues in the fire service.”
Complicating matters for an already dangerous profession, the fire service is facing its greatest personnel shortage in the modern era. In the past four decades, the US population has increased more than 40%. The number of emergency calls has tripled. But volunteer firefighters have fallen by a quarter. About 200,000 fewer today.
This matters because two-thirds of all firefighters are volunteers. They’ve been integral to the fire service since Benjamin Franklin founded the nation’s first fire station in 1736. In most of rural America, it is only volunteers that will answer the call. Unless there are no volunteers.
"[The house] burned to the ground. No firefighters ever responded," Mark Hyman.
“Behind me on this lot stood a house that caught fire one day,” Mark explained as he walked along an empty lot. “It could have been contained, but it wasn’t. It burned to the ground. No firefighters ever responded. And here is the really crazy part. The fire house is across the street.”
In the Maryland suburbs, Trisha Wolford knows full well the challenges faced by rural America. She is an officer with the International Association of Fire Chiefs. She is also the chief in Anne Arundel County Maryland, among the nation’s largest departments. She told Inside Your World the firefighter shortage in some communities has reached crisis levels.
“The doors are shut and the apparatus is shiny and sitting inside and there's nobody there," Chief Trisha Wolford.
Wolford commented, “Gone are the days of us looking at thousands of recruits and saying, ‘Well, you need us. Wait in line and we'll get to you.’”
There is no longer an army of applicants waiting to join. Some volunteer fire stations have closed for good.
“And all of a sudden, the doors are shut and the apparatus is shiny and sitting inside and there's nobody there,” Wolford explained.
“Are we in difficult times?” Mark asked.
“We are. I would say we are. Absolutely,” she replied.
As older volunteer firefighters retire there is a dwindling number of young adults to take their place. Here are some of the reasons why recruiting is coming up short:
Fewer eligible workers, greater time demands, higher training standards, public disinterest in voluntary community service, increased family reliance on two-incomes, greater awareness of health-related risks, workers commuting outside their communities making volunteering impractical, and Millennials and Gen Z value their work-life balance differently than previous generations
Every firefighter we spoke with told us no one joins the fire service to make money. Not even those with full-time salaries. Chief Wolford told us there are rewards greater than a paycheck. “To save a life, to bring a new life in, to birth a baby with a new mother. Those are experiences that the average person just doesn't get.”
Steve Tucker recalled saving a man who went into full cardiac arrest watching a football game. “And he would call me every year before the Auburn-Alabama game and ask me where I was. And he never forgot who worked on him.”
“It is like a second family," Firefighter Mara Halley.
Camaraderie is also important. Firefighters view the fire house as special a combination of workplace, home and social club. “It is like a second family. You build relationships,” Halley observed.
Today’s firefighters do more than just drag hoses and swing axes. Many, like firefighter Halley, are cross-trained as EMTs. Or perform other tasks. “Hazmat mitigation, technical rescue, marine operations, to name a few” she explained.
According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, there are more than 29,000 fire departments. About 8 in 10 are all-volunteer or mostly volunteer. The rest are career-staffed.
Tucker, who retired as a chief, was a career firefighter in Auburn, Alabama and a volunteer at a rural station. He noted the hidden cost to communities with limited fire services.
Mark wondered, “So if there are no fire hydrants and fewer firehouses nearby, I can expect to pay greater homeowner's insurance rates?” “Considerably more,” Tucker replied.
Industry data shows 85% of career firefighters are white or Hispanic. 96% are male. It’s believed volunteer numbers are similar. So the fire service is recruiting underrepresented communities to fill vacancies to become the next generation of firefighters.
Chief Wolford shared with us an opening line to encourage a young adult to consider the fire service. It is simple and direct.
“Have you ever saved a life?" Chief Trisha Wolford.
Wolford asked, “Have you ever saved a life? So, come and give it a shot. If you don’t like it you can leave.”
Anyone who might want to learn more about how to join the fire service can ask any firefighter. They are looking for men and women who to join their team.
