Recruiting and keeping volunteer firefighters
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Recruiting and keeping volunteer firefighters
Filed by Gail Banzet in Feature, Local News, News.May 7, 2010
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Fire and medical emergencies can happen anywhere, and in a state like Oklahoma many situations occur in rural areas. Ninety percent of Oklahoma is covered by volunteer fire departments – 879 stations to be exact. These volunteers work their regular jobs and then at the sound of their pagers, drop everything to respond to an emergency. Recruiting and maintaining steady volunteers is sometimes a challenge in small towns, and that’s why a state representative wants to create greater tax incentives for volunteer firefighters – here’s Representative Joe Dorman of Rush Springs.
“These guys are not paid. They give up hours to go out and fight a fire, and then we also ask them to do additional training to make it safer so this incentive is there to provide that little bit extra to thank them for giving up those hours to be firefighters,” Dorman said.
Dorman has a personal interest in House Bill 3123 - a friend of his died fighting fire as a volunteer a few years ago. Currently, there are two tax credits available to volunteer firefighters - $200 and $400, but Dorman would like to extend those credits to $500. With the status of the state’s economy, legislators are considering delaying the bill’s effective date three years if it were passed.
“It would be based upon the training and certification achieved by these volunteers,” Dorman said. “It’s encouragement for them to go take these additional classes to help them with their jobs and provide a safer environment for them when they’re fighting fires.”
Volunteer fire departments have always run on shoestring budgets – regardless of the state of the economy. They pay for equipment and training through local and federal grants, community fundraisers and private donations. Dorman said several stations have had to shut down or consolidate recently because of a lack of funding and/or volunteers. This not only puts residents at risk but also affects insurance rates for home and business owners.
“And in turn, if you lose a fire department in your area that means your insurance for your property goes up,” Dorman said. “So the better department you have, the lower your insurance rates are.”
But when local volunteers answer the call to a grass fire or car wreck, they’re not thinking about insurance rates, they’re focused on protecting people and serving their communities. Earlier this week, volunteer firemen in Perkins used the department’s water pumpers and fire trucks for some monthly training.
Perkins is a town of 2,400 people with 22 volunteer firemen. All of the firefighters are 1st responder certified and attend training on a monthly basis. OSU employee Craig Hannon is a captain who said he’s called to volunteer and he loves what he does. Training takes up a lot of time especially when working on a volunteer basis, but Hannon said it’s worth it.
“My family lives in the area, and I want these guys trained to their best because should I ever need their services, I don’t want there to be any inadequacies or anything holding them back from taking care of my family,” Hannon said.
Perkins fire chief Joe Barta said it’s always a challenge to keep reliable people on the department. Younger firefighters who aren’t settled tend to move away while others relocate after losing their jobs.
“Probably the hardest job I have is recruiting good volunteers and retaining those good volunteers,” he said. “Lately the applications for being a volunteer firefighter here in Perkins have been down. I haven’t had a lot of interest, and the one that I have gotten have been younger guys.”
One of those latest recruits is Barta’s son who enjoys firefighting so much he intends to make it a full-time career. Eighteen-year-old Alec Barta is a fire protection and safety technology major at Oklahoma State University.
“I really like it,” he said. “I’ve gone through lots of training in the past year, been on lots of fires – several medical calls. I’ve been in some pretty good situations, and I think it’s furthered my want to move on.”
For Chief Barta, his son and the other Perkins volunteers, a firefighter pension is available if they sign up prior to age 45. State fire officials said not every small, rural department falls under the right state title to qualify for a pension plan, but those who do can receive $150 a month after 20 years of service. Besides the small retirement plan, state tax incentives are the only other compensation for volunteer firefighters. Chief Barta said it’s a nice gesture for those who give of their time and energy and expect nothing in return.
“I think anything that would help attract volunteers, help keep volunteers – would be a plus. I think it would help us a lot,” he said.
Representative Dorman’s bill specifies six hours of training to receive the tax credits. The bill currently sits in a house conference committee at the state capitol with three weeks left in the legislative session.
