YORK, Pa. — Firefighters in south-central Pennsylvania are sounding the alarm.
"It's not a crisis, it's a disaster," York City Fire Chief William H. Sleeger said. "There's nobody stepping up like that to fulfill the volunteer ranks.”
Sleeger started as a volunteer when volunteers made up the majority of the department.
Decades later, that’s no longer the case. While the number of volunteers has dwindled, the demand for service has only increased.
"Our calls for service have drastically increased from when I started to where it is today," Chief Sleeger said. "We have to make the adjustment, that we need more staffing. We need more career personnel to answer the call for service."
Chief Sleeger points out many people can’t afford to volunteer, especially with the rise of dual-income households.
"Asking somebody to volunteer 50, 60, 70 hours a week on top of working, that's a lot," he said.
Other departments in the area share the same struggle.
"At some point, the elected local officials have to say enough is enough with the volunteer fire service and where we’re at today," Manheim Township Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Little said.
Chief Little says local municipalities are doing what they can. In their case, the department absorbed nearby volunteer companies that were struggling.
"Mannheim Township took that step, became a combination system so our career firefighters, we have full-time [and] part-time, they're also augmented then by a volunteer component," Little said.
Other solutions include ‘live-in’ housing programs and tax breaks for volunteers, as well as lobbying in Harrisburg.
The Gettysburg Volunteer Fire Department is the latest company to take a new step in getting more people to join the ranks. Borough officials are offering a new tax program to try and recruit volunteer firefighters.
"We have seven or eight individuals we expect to qualify under this in the first year," Gettysburg Borough Council President Wesley K. Heyser said. "The goal really is, with some of those individuals in particular and others that are coming in, that we can try to get them to purchase in town where the tax burden might have been a barrier for them in the past.”
Those who apply to the borough's volunteer department and wish to receive credit will need to pass certain residency, certification, and response requirements.
Despite the best efforts of companies, the problem remains a major concern.
"I think it's just important that we continue to sound the alarm on the volunteer crisis of our firefighters in Pennsylvania in the fire service and the direction we need to go," Chief Little said.
It's a crisis that's bound to get worse without change.
"Within the next 10 years, I can see a lot of places that are just closing their doors," Chief Sleeger said. "They just don't have the folks to do it.”
People interested in volunteering should contact their local fire department. Career opportunities with the York City Fire Department and Manheim Township Fire and Rescue can be found below.
Fire Career Opportunities: