Cave Junction, Ore. — A nationwide volunteer firefighter shortage is hitting rural Oregon. More than half of the nation’s $1.2 million firefighters are volunteers. As that number goes down, some departments are in crisis mode.
NBC5 News spoke with Illinois Valley Fire District Deputy Chief, Jeff Gavlik. He told NBC5 News at one point during his 23-year career, he saw around 50 volunteer firefighters locally. But as of Thursday, the district only has 12.
“The requirements to be a firefighter are the same, regardless of whether you get paid for it or not, it’s still the same,” he said.
Deputy Chief Gavlik said many fire agencies are struggling trying to recruit volunteer firefighters.
“In the old days, it used to be if you just wanted to show up, you could show up and if a fire happened you did what you could,” he said.
With the hazards, dangers, and liabilities existing in 2018, all firefighters must go through a seven-weekend long fire academy to learn the basics.
“From there it’s kind of the building blocks because we’ll train them on wildlife firefighting and vehicle extrication and medical skills,” he said.
To complete the full training, the deputy chief said, takes roughly one year.
“Our volunteer firefighters answer whatever the call is,” he said.
IVFD is an all-hazards response department. Meaning it goes far behind fighting fires on the job.
“Vehicle accidents, incidents in the river,” he said.
Illinois valley currently has four paid firefighters and 12 volunteer firefighters.
“Even with the paid firefighters that we have, we wouldn’t be able to safely attack an average structure fire or an advanced wildland fire like we’ve had for many years,” he said.
He says at one point during his 23-year career, IVFD had around 50 volunteer firefighters. So why the lack of interest now?
“That’s the magic question that a lot of us have been trying to figure out,” he said.
He says the economy is a possible reason, but also he’s noticing a trend in the community.
“There’s seems to be a little bit of a change in the desire to be community-oriented,” he said.
But for what it’s worth, the deputy chief said there’s something about volunteers willing to answer the call that separates them from paid firefighters.
“There’s something unique about an individual willing to dedicate their time for very little or no incentive and that’s one of those things that’s priceless,” he said.
IVFD isn’t the only agency looking for volunteers. If you’re interested in volunteer firefighting, you can contact your nearest fire agency to learn more about its application process.
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