“Vanishing Volunteers”

Subject of WHYY’s “Radio Times”

Tuesday, March 17 at 10 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the volunteer fire company, may now be on the verge of becoming the volunteer fire service’s final resting place, some say. That’s because in less than 40 years, Pennsylvania lost about 80 percent of its volunteer firefighters — dropping from about 300,000 in 1977 to roughly 50,000 today.

But the problem is not limited to just Pennsylvania. It’s nationwide. “The volunteer emergency services … is a tradition in danger of weakening and possibly even dying out,” the U.S. Fire Administration reported back in 2004. “The causes of the problems are similar in all 50 states.”

What can we do to halt this alarming trend? Tune into WHYY’s “Radio Times” on National Public Radio this Tuesday, March 17, at 10 a.m. for an insightful discussion on the topic. Host Marty Moss-Coane’s guests will be:

William F. Jenaway, Ph.D., a 40-year firefighter, Program Director of the Firemen’s Association of the State of Pennsylvania’s Recruitment & Retention program, former King of Prussia Fire Chief and board president of the Congressional Fire Services Institute.
Author George DeVault, who just wrote the book Fire Call!, a memoir about his 30 years as a volunteer firefighter in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

“The huge drop in the number of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania should scare us all, because 97 percent of the commonwealth’s firefighters are volunteers,” said DeVault. “Nationwide, volunteers save American taxpayers almost $140 billion a year, plus countless lives. Volunteers account for seven out of every 10 firefighters in the country.”

Jenaway, a nationally recognized fire service scholar, chaired the 2004 Senate Resolution 60 Commission, which made 23 recommendations for improvement in Pennsylvania.

“Nothing has really changed in 10 years,” Jenaway testified before a Pennsylvania Senate committee in 2013.

“Solutions exist,” Jenaway continued, “but we have to have the political will to suggest and drive unpopular changes that will make public safety at reasonable cost available to all of Pennsylvania. This starts with NOT thinking like our grandfathers who led small, limited-activity agencies, but thinking like 21st century businessmen who have to operate on a budget and have flexibility in service delivery.

“This is not our grandfather’s fire and EMS department today, yet we continue to try and fund it and direct it as if we were living in the golden years after World War II. Someone has to start taking action or the people of Pennsylvania will be the losers.”

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Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane can be heard over the airwaves from 10-11 a.m. and 11-noon Eastern time weekdays on 90.9 FM in the Delaware Valley, and rebroadcast from 11-midnight as well. Radio Times is also heard live on the Sirius - XM channel NPR Now 122, weekdays from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern.

See more at: http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/