Help!
What if a fire broke out at your house, and there were no firefighters available to help put out the blaze?
That question should be a concern for Uniontown residents as their City Council recently took the unusual step of voting to advertise for volunteer firefighters to supplement its nine-member paid fire department.
Fire Chief Dane “Buck” Griffith noted the department only has about five volunteers, and clearly, that’s not enough.
At present, three paid firefighters are on duty at a time, two at the Beeson Avenue station and one at the East End station.
He said the National Fire Protection Association recommends having four firefighters at each fire, two to battle the blaze inside and two outside to back them up.
Griffith said the problem is even worse when the department responds to one of the high-rise apartment buildings in the city because one firefighter has to control the lobby while the other two fight the fire.
Ideally, Griffith said he’d like to have six or eight firefighters at every fire to handle all aspects of a blaze.
Part of the problem today, said Griffith, is that the training has risen from 40 hours years ago to 168 hours.
Griffith noted that it’s difficult for many people to make that kind of commitment these days.
On the other hand, the only tangible benefits are a $10,000 insurance policy in case of death and a banquet every year.
Other states offer educational benefits and significant tax breaks to lure volunteers into the fold. Similar initiatives have been considered by the Pennsylvania Legislature, but nothing has been passed.
The lack of volunteers is not unique to Uniontown. Griffith noted that across the state, the number of volunteers has dwindled from 360,000 in the late 1970s when he became a firefighter to about 60,000 this year.
Griffith noted that when he graduated from high school, he had to wait three years before there was an opening for a new volunteer on the city’s fire squad.
However, it’s interesting to note that while Uniontown is hurting for volunteers, Connellsville is considering a move to do away with its one-man paid department and rely instead on the all-volunteer New Haven Hose Co.
The Fayette County Election Board recently voted to permit a referendum to appear on the November ballot asking Connellsville voters if they want to disband the city’s paid fire department.
Perhaps Uniontown officials should talk to the leaders of New Haven Hose and see if they have any ideas on how to recruit volunteer firefighters. Something is certainly working for that department.
Uniontown officials should also initiate talks with other neighboring fire departments to see if maybe an agreement could be reached where the city provides the paid firefighters and they provide the bulk of volunteers.
We’ve always been a supporter of municipalities working together to help each other, and this could be a shining example of that principle.
However, all the regionalism in the world won’t solve the real issue with this problem. Basically, young people, especially in Uniontown, aren’t volunteering to serve as firefighters, at least in the numbers that they have in the past.
The Uniontown Fire Department can trace its roots back to the early 1800s and for most of those years it’s been staffed with a great combination of paid and volunteer firefighters who have worked together for the betterment of city residents.
It will be a sad day for the city if enough volunteers can’t be found to hold up their end of the deal.