crimethink
24th February 2017, 02:46 PM
https://www.wsj.com/articles/firehouses-raise-alarm-over-lack-of-young-recruits-1487932206
The China Village Volunteer Fire Department has 21 volunteers, but only six can fight fires. Most of the rest, said Fire Chief Tim Theriault, are simply too old.
“They come and they help and hang around, but I can’t send them into a fire,” Mr. Theriault said. “It’s a young man’s sport.”
The firehouse in China, Maine, a wooded town northeast of Augusta, is one of many departments whose staffing needs are caught in a demographic trap, with not enough young volunteers climbing onto firetrucks to replace the elders.
It goes beyond China. The Maine State Federation of Firefighters is running a television ad calling for volunteers. Some volunteer departments in Maine are offering free lodging to college students who agree to help out. And communities like China are considering paying stipends to volunteer firefighters as a way to make the job more appealing.
“We really have to market to the millennials,” said Kevin Quinn, chairman of the National Volunteer Fire Council, a Maryland-based nonprofit trade association. “Otherwise, we don’t have that next generation in line to replace those of us who will be gone in 10 years.”
The China Village Volunteer Fire Department has 21 volunteers, but only six can fight fires. Most of the rest, said Fire Chief Tim Theriault, are simply too old.
“They come and they help and hang around, but I can’t send them into a fire,” Mr. Theriault said. “It’s a young man’s sport.”
The firehouse in China, Maine, a wooded town northeast of Augusta, is one of many departments whose staffing needs are caught in a demographic trap, with not enough young volunteers climbing onto firetrucks to replace the elders.
It goes beyond China. The Maine State Federation of Firefighters is running a television ad calling for volunteers. Some volunteer departments in Maine are offering free lodging to college students who agree to help out. And communities like China are considering paying stipends to volunteer firefighters as a way to make the job more appealing.
“We really have to market to the millennials,” said Kevin Quinn, chairman of the National Volunteer Fire Council, a Maryland-based nonprofit trade association. “Otherwise, we don’t have that next generation in line to replace those of us who will be gone in 10 years.”