Published: September 20, 2008 09:09 pm      

Manpower in short supply

Volunteer firefighters, EMTs difficult to find

Imagine a call to your local fire department or ambulance service and it was 30 or 40 minutes before anyone arrived to help you.

This is the worst case scenario that faces many volunteer fire departments and ambulance services in the county’s small towns and villages.

“It is getting harder to find volunteers,” said Lloyd Smith, fire chief of the Rossville Area Fire Protection District. “I just think it is a sign of the times; everyone’s life seems so busy.”

Fire chiefs throughout the county echo Smith’s comments.

“We have 21 people on our volunteer list,” Smith said. “However, it boils down to about 12-16 volunteers who regularly show up for training and respond to fires.”

Members of the Rossville fire department train every Wednesday evening. Training is a key part of being a volunteer firefighter, Smith said. Volunteers need to learn about the continually changing ways of fighting fires as well as technology and train with equipment.

Scott Weidig, fire chief of the Lynch Fire Protection District, said his fire department is down to a core of 10-12 volunteers.

“We have about 10-12 who comprise the base of our fire fighting group,” Weidig said. “Ideally, I would like to have about 30 people.

“During the daytime hours, we are really short sometimes,” Weidig said. “A lot of people work in the factories or out of town and are not available to respond.”

Lynch also trains every Wednesday. However, it does have two training classes to accommodate second and third shift workers.

“We have a morning training session for second and third shift people and then we have an evening class for those working during the daytime,” Weidig said.

Lynch also operates an ambulance service and has 8–10 emergency medical technicians on call.

While most volunteer fire departments and ambulance services do not pay members, Lynch does provide a Christmas bonus to volunteers based upon the number of calls each has responded to during the year.

In Bismarck, Fire Chief James Siddens has a core of 30 volunteers he relies on, however, Siddens has three fire stations to man.

“We have stations in Lake Boulevard, Bismarck and Alvin,” Siddens said. “So they are pretty spread out.”

Siddens would like to see a volunteer base double of what he has now.

“I could easily use 60 volunteers to cover our three fire stations,” Siddens said.

Ambulance service in the Bismarck area is provided by the Bismarck Ambulance Service. Donald Evans is president of the board.

“We have two to three EMTs that we mostly rely on,” Evans said. “I would really like to have six to eight EMTs and three or four drivers on our roster.”

Evans said EMT training is provided by either Carle Hospital or Provena Covenant Hospital. Evans said one of the problems he encounters is after becoming certified EMTs, a lot of volunteers go on to take paying positions with Medix or some other professional ambulance service. When they do that, they are generally working and not available to answer calls.

One ambulance service seems to have adequate staffing … for now.

“We have about 20 on our roster which is a good number for our two ambulances,” said Terry Hume, EMS chief in Oakwood. “This includes both helpers and EMTs.”

Hume said Oakwood’s two ambulances make about 457 runs a year.

A different story can be found down the street in Oakwood at the fire station.

“We do have problems,” said Oakwood Fire Chief Tony Frye. “We have about 14 dedicated firefighters on our roster, but usually only four or five are available to respond.

“Daytime is definitely a problem for us. People either work in Danville or Champaign and are unavailable in the daytime.”

Frye also said training is an issue.

“We train every Wednesday night,” Frye said. “But people are so busy it is hard for them to make it to training.”

Frye said Oakwood is going to be restarting its fire cadet program. This program allows youths from 15- to 18-years-old to become involved with the fire department.

“This gives them some experience with the fire department,” Frye said. “They train with us but they aren’t allowed to actually fight a fire.”

Frye said the teens get to handle hoses and other equipment so when they reach age 18 they can become volunteer firefighters.

Oakwood has two cadets in training and would like to add four more in the near future.

The story in Tilton is a little different according to Tilton Fire Chief Wayne Dunavan.

“We currently have 20 volunteers,” Dunavan said. “That is all the pagers and gear we have available, so we really don’t have equipment for more firefighters.”

“We do have some problems in the daytime hours,” Dunavan said. “We have two members who work for Medix and they are not always available, but we do have two volunteers who work for the village and are usually available to respond.”

Fire and ambulance chiefs encourage people interested in volunteering to contact the local fire department. There is no maximum age for volunteers, but most set a minimum age of 18 to be a firefighter.

They also remind people that by volunteering, the burning house one saves may be his or her own.