Ohio has nearly 400 unfilled positions for volunteer firefighters, according to job postings from Make me a firefighter.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced last week that the state will step up its recruitment drive, offering free training for volunteer firefighters and will begin airing 30-second public service announcements across the state telling the stories of volunteer firefighters and why they chose to be their community’s first responders.
Terry Kuhlman has been a volunteer firefighter in Lakeview for half a century. He said the shortage has been felt in the northwest Ohio village in recent years. They’re struggling to find volunteers for the station.
“People are moving away or changing jobs and whatever the case may be,” Kuhlman said. “We’ve probably lost about seven (firefighters) in the last two years, close to 10.”
The office of Governor Mike DeWine
Nearly 70% of Ohio’s fire stations are run by volunteers like Kuhlman’s. And many face similar challenges. From 2018 to 2021, there was a 6.5% decline in the number of volunteer firefighters in the state. according to reporting by the Statehouse News Bureau.
Obstacles to recruitment
It is an issue that the state has been dealing with for some time. DeWine founded the Volunteer fire brigade task force in 2022 to examine the barriers to volunteer recruitment.
The report found that many volunteer firefighters must pay for their own personal protective equipment and take time off work for training. In addition, Kuhlman said firefighters must be willing to sacrifice a large amount of their free time to respond to emergencies.
“You have to be someone who is willing to donate 100% of your time,” he said.
It’s a big challenge for civilians, especially without financial incentives, Kuhlman said. He said he wants volunteer firefighters to receive state income tax credits.
This is one of the task force’s many recommendations to ease recruitment problems. It also suggested increasing paid leave for volunteer firefighters and providing tuition vouchers for Ohio’s vocational and technical schools.
Challenges for small towns
Volunteer fire departments are more common in rural communities, but they face unique recruitment challenges. In small towns like Lakeview, farm workers often have to travel to other towns and are away for most of the day to respond to emergencies.
“Here in Lakeview, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., maybe three people come. If you get a call after 6 p.m., 10 people answer because they’re coming home from work,” Kuhlman said.
Lakeview Fire Department Facebook
When firefighters are lost, fire departments’ response times to community emergencies are delayed, Kuhlman said, which can make fires more dangerous. That increases the risk to rural volunteers themselves.
“Volunteer firefighters can be at much higher risk because they often have to fight larger fires with far fewer personnel and only 15% of the training that paid firefighters receive,” the Report 2023 from the Volunteer Fire Department Task Force it says.
Rewarding work
Despite the challenges, Kuhlman said his work is rewarding.
“I love helping people. A lot of people I’ve helped in an accident or whatever, years later, see me on the street and congratulate me or thank me for what I did,” he said. “It just makes me so proud that I’m there to help them.”
At 68, Kuhlman isn’t planning on giving up his volunteer work anytime soon, even though he’s fifteen years older than the average volunteer firefighter in Ohio, who is 54.
He said he will continue as long as he can, to help train the next generation of recruits in the life-saving work.
“I don’t want to take anything I’ve learned in my 50 years of service with me to the grave,” he said.
