Many fire departments in Ohio are under pressure to find and retain volunteers.
To raise awareness of this burden, Ohio state leaders on Friday announced a new statewide campaign to encourage the state’s citizens to volunteer as firefighters and announced that volunteer training at the Ohio Fire Academy is now free.
“Now is the time for Ohioans to step up and become the hometown heroes their communities need,” said Kevin Reardon, the state’s fire marshal, who was joined at a news conference by Governor Mike DeWine and Department of Commerce Director Sherry Maxfield. “These volunteers don’t need to have experience as first responders. They just need a shared commitment and dedication to help their neighbors and communities.”
Starting Friday, two 30-second public service announcements will air on television, along with commercials on various digital platforms, including social media. In the commercials, Ohio volunteer firefighters will share why they chose to serve.
The campaign follows a recommendation from the Ohio Task Force on Volunteer Fire Service, a committee created in 2022 to study the sustainability of volunteer fire departments.
Individuals can visit MakeMeAFirefighter.org and search for volunteer firefighter opportunities. State officials say there are nearly 400 open positions across Ohio.
Why do fire departments look for volunteers?
According to state leaders, about 70% of Ohio’s fire departments are volunteer-run. They also noted that while the number of emergency calls is increasing, the number of volunteer firefighters is decreasing. From 2018 to 2021, there was a 6.5% decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters, according to the state; however, from 2018 to 2020, there was a 9% increase in calls.
Reardon said providing free training should ease the pressure on some emergency responders and prospective volunteers.
“This is a big deal for volunteers,” he said. “We shouldn’t expect our volunteers to foot the bill when they’ve already raised their hand to donate their time.”
Sugarcreek boss: “It’s a struggle”
Despite these changes, smaller communities still face the challenge of maintaining a volunteer fire department.
The Sugarcreek Fire Department in Tuscarawas County has 18 volunteer firefighters. Fire Chief John Meek said recruiting and maintaining a volunteer brigade is challenging, and sometimes he has to hire part-time firefighters to fill the gaps between volunteer shifts.
“We could always use more volunteers. I think we’ve been lucky with our community in Holmes and Tuscarawas counties, but it’s an uphill battle,” Meek said. “Everyone is busy and training is a commitment, even though the government has reduced the number of training hours from 54 to 36.”
Meek said he praised DeWine for bringing attention to the problem, but he wasn’t sure if it was actually a lack of volunteers or if the problem was a mindset where everyone thinks there will always be someone else to volunteer.
“The goal is to get people back and get them interested, or at least get them to think that it might be something for them,” DeWine said. “A lot of people just never thought about it. They never thought, ‘This is something I could spend some of my precious time on.'”
