Time to Volunteer?

National media outlets have reported in the last few years a "volunteer crisis" where the perfect storm of circumstances has left entire communities with no emergency medical technicians (EMT) or firefighters. The Montana State Fire Chiefs Association (MSFCA) says there is an extreme shortage of volunteer firefighters across the state. With 400 of Montana's 435 fire departments relying solely on volunteers, the response time varies significantly and the call could go unanswered if no one is available.

Greenough/Potomac Volunteer (GPVFD) Fire Chief Ryan Hall, Swan Valley Emergency Services (SVES) Volunteer Fire Chief Randy Williams and Volunteer Medical Chief Dan Maloughney and Seeley Lake Rural Fire District (SLRFD) Chief Bob Vanden Heuvel discussed the volunteer situation for their departments. While many of the local trends follow national statistics, all of the chiefs feel they have a solid foundation of volunteers and a good network for mutual aid that will not leave a call unanswered. However, more volunteers are always needed.

GPVFD Overview

Hall has been the volunteer chief for three and a half years.

GPVFD's fee service area is from mile marker 10 to mile marker 36 on Montana Highway 200. However when help is needed, Hall said they have responded to East Missoula, north to Seeley Lake and east to the Helmville Bridge at mile marker 56 on Montana Highway 200.

They operate out of three stations and maintain 10 emergency response vehicles. They have never had an ambulance because they are too close to Missoula.

SVES Overview

Maloughney has been the medical chief for the past 18 years. Williams has been with the department for more than 25 years and in the role of fire chief role for the past three years.

SVES covers from Beaver Creek around Montana Highway 83 mile marker 30 north to Soup Creek at mile marker 63-64 and from the Mission Mountains Wilderness to the west to the Bob Marshall Wilderness to the east.

They have an ambulance and six fire apparatus including two tenders, two structure engines and two wildland engines.

SLRFD Overview

Vanden Heuvel has worked as the paid chief since September 2014.

SLRFD is responsible for 80 square miles surrounding Seeley Lake. This includes just south of Salmon Lake, west to Placid Lake, east to Kozy Korner and north to the summit on Montana Highway 83. Vanden Heuvel estimates that they cover approximately 400 square miles through mutual aid agreements and service requests.

They run two ambulances and have five firefighting apparatus at two stations.

Of the total estimated 1,134,400 firefighters across the country, 788,250 are volunteers.

SLRFD is the only local department that has paid staff. Chief Vanden Heuvel along with the district administrator and part-time maintenance position are paid.

The SLRFD volunteers receive a $15 stipend for responding to calls and are paid $60 for transports to Missoula between the hours of 8 p.m. – 8 a.m.

While firefighters with the GPVFD and SVES receive firefighter retirement after serving for 20 years, are insured and have workman's compensation, the only time they receive payment for their work is if they are employed on a state or federal wildland fire as an emergency firefighter hire.

The number of volunteer firefighters in the United States has declined by about 12 percent since 1984.

GPVFD has 31 volunteers on their roster. Hall said their numbers are up overall. However, because there are few jobs in Potomac and many of the responders work in surrounding communities or out of the county during the week, they are short-staffed Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Vanden Heuvel feels the SLRFD is lucky because they have a dedicated core group of volunteers. They have 22 volunteers on the roster, with 14 being EMTs. However some leave for the winter and others rarely respond on calls. Numbers are up from the lowest number of 18 volunteers during Vanden Heuvel's time as chief.

"Numbers are what keeps you from those periods of no responders and it does happen," said Vanden Heuvel.

Seeley Lake has a proportionally high number of EMTs but there are only eight people qualified to put on a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and go into a burning building. Vanden Heuvel ideally wants nine capable firefighters to put on a SCBA should there need to be an interior rescue in a burning building.

"I've learned that my crew is a darn good crew with the proper training. I have good EMS people but it's those numbers. I can't say how long these people will last. You have got to have a steady stream of people coming in the door," said Vanden Heuvel.

SVES has 16 firefighters and eight medical responders, five of which are EMTs. Six of the volunteers are trained responders for both. They picked up five new volunteers in the past year, three joined following the Mission Mountains Mercantile fire.

"The problem is not the number of volunteers, it's committed volunteers that will actually come and help," said Williams. "They all want their names on the roster but it's harder to get them to respond to a scene."

One of the major factors contributing to the national decline in volunteers includes the proliferation of two-income families.

Williams and Maloughney agree that the decline in employment opportunities since the downturn of the timber industry in the Swan Valley has played a major role in the number of volunteers. There are less people overall and those that are there are older.

"For this department to live I think it would have to become a full time department if the trend keeps going the way it is with people leaving because there are no jobs here. The only way you are going to get new young recruits is to pay them to move here to be [firemen]. Other than that, I don't see any young people moving in," said Williams.

Williams said Matthew Brothers Construction employs the largest number of volunteers in the valley. They do allow their workers to respond on calls during the workday. However this has not been the case with all employers in the Swan.

"The majority of the people on the department either grew up here or have been here for years. They have community commitment," said Maloughney. "To have someone come in from outside the community is tough because economics are bad [and] housing is bad."

Not allowing volunteers to respond during the workday is an issue in Seeley Lake and Potomac as well. For example, school employees cannot leave students to go on a call. In Potomac, many of the volunteers work outside of the community so they are not available during the workweek.

More training hours to comply with federal and state standards is a main reason more time is required of volunteers.

The beginning course for firefighters is 30 hours of training. An Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) requires 120 hours of training to get their license. First responders require 80 hours of training.

Following the initial training, firefighters must show 30-40 hours of training to qualify for firefighter retirement. EMTs require 24 hours per year of continuing education, 12 hours per year of refresher training.

"It is harder to get medical personnel because of the standards that are set by the state and federal government," said Maloughney. "People now days have a hard time making that commitment up front."

Williams estimates a typical volunteer with SVES spends 60-70 hours per year training. The minimum in SLRFD is 50 hours up to 100 hours of training per year or a minimum four to five hours per month.

"Training never pans out to be as much as I would like them to have. The crews bend over backwards to get the four to five hours per month," said Vanden Heuvel.

More calls is the second reason for increased time demands on volunteers. The total number of calls for U.S. Fire Departments in 1986 was 11,890,000. It increased nearly three-fold to 31,644,500 calls in 2013.

Maloughney estimates there are 75-100 medical calls per year. Williams estimates between accidents, wildland fires and structure fires, firefighters respond to 60 calls per year. While Williams feels they have sufficient numbers, not everyone is available to respond to every call.

Medical calls require an EMT to run with the ambulance. There are times when EMTs are not available. Maloughney said, while volunteers are not on-call, the medical volunteers communicate with each other to try to make sure there is someone available to respond.

SLRFD call volume has steadily increased. In 2005, there were 169 calls. 2010 had 232 total calls and in 2016 there were 321 calls.

More mutual aid requests take volunteers out of their district.

"No man's land is from Helmville to Ovando. They are small towns and have a very tough time with staffing," said Vanden Heuvel. "It becomes our responsibility or Potomac's. As long as we are covered [in Seeley Lake] we will respond."

Maloughney said the state EMS Bureau is working with small communities in eastern Montana where they are hiring random paramedics to staff for short amounts of time. Deer Lodge is currently paying paramedics to staff their ambulance for a few days at a time.

"If our call volume was up then maybe [it would be something to pursue] but it would have to be up more than what it is," said Maloughney.

Williams said that there are only five volunteers in Swan Lake. The chief has told him that for calls to the south of Swan Lake they will count on SVES to help.

The Mission Mountains Mercantile fire last May put the mutual aid agreements into play.

"The Merc fire was unique," said Williams. "Everyone on our department was there, I mean everybody."

However, even with every firefighter there, SLRFD sent all of their available resources to assist while GPVFD were on standby to ensure Seeley Lake was covered should there be a fire call.

"That is what is so good about having good relationships with the neighboring departments and having those mutual aid agreements in place," said Vanden Heuvel.

Volunteer firefighters are getting older. Nationally in 1987 for communities with a population less than 2,500, 37 percent of volunteer firefighters were 40 years or older. In 2014, 52 percent of volunteers firefighters are 40 years or older.

Age is a challenge for the volunteers in the Swan Valley. Three of the five new recruits that joined the SVES this past year are either 65 or older than 65. Ideally they are looking for volunteers between the ages of 18-45 but that is the group that has families and they are working.

"We have good recruitment [for the 65 and older age] but we have to be careful what we let them do," said Williams.

"We also have the older population on the QRU. Burn out and that type of stuff is something I have to look at with my people all the time," said Maloughney. "When you have four to five people that try to get out on every call that is really demanding on them. You don't have that relief factor built in."

Not only is the age of the volunteers a challenge, the increasing age of the Swan Valley residents requires more medical transports and life-threatening calls due to strokes and heart attacks.

Hall has similar issues in Potomac. "We love our older retired volunteers, [but] some can't enter burning buildings or be line qualified on a wildland fire," wrote Hall.

Vanden Heuvel's biggest concern is with attrition. "We continually lose people at the top. When you lose your experience, you are replacing it with someone on the lower end that is being trained."

The time donated by volunteer firefighters saves localities across the country an estimated $139.8 billion per year. The average cost to train and equip a firefighter is approximately $27,000. In 1984, a self-contained breathing apparatus cost $900. Now it costs $5,000. In 1984, a pumper truck cost $100,000 now it costs $525,000, more than five times as much.

Residents in the SLRFD who own a $200,000 home pay less than $75 per year for emergency response. This leaves the SLRFD seeking grants and or considering asking the taxpayers for more funding to help provide the required safety gear and equipment to do their job. Other sources of additional revenue include wildland fire contracting and running transports with the second ambulance helps supplement the budget.

GPVFD has a $38,000 budget. With this they operate, insure and maintain three stations and ten vehicles as well as pay extra insurance and workman's compensation for all volunteers. They also need to purchase newer gear, tools and supplies and help pay for volunteers to attend trainings all over the state.

"Long story short, we are spending $48,000-$50,000 dollars a year and we are bringing in $38,000 from tax revenues," wrote Hall. "We are able to do this for a few reasons: money made from wild land contracting helps our budget and some money saved up over the years, allows us to over spend our tax revenues."

Volunteers invest in their communities.

"There is no real benefit other than the self-satisfaction," said Williams. "As long as there are no young people stepping up to take your place, you better hang in here until someone does.

Maloughney volunteers to give back to his community and because it is a need that must be filled.

"Everybody wants to be a hero until it comes time to be one," said Maloughney. "We all grow up dreaming about riding on that big red truck but when it comes down to it, our interest goes different ways."

"Volunteerism is a huge problem around the state," said Vanden Heuvel. "Is it a huge problem in Seeley Lake? In the last couple months I realize we've done better than I thought. I've always had that goal in mind of being able to properly fight a structure fire with the proper numbers [12-25 dedicated firefighters on a city crew]. We get the job done. I would like to have more people. Numbers fill the gap. The more people you have, the better chance you have that someone is going to be there to staff that vehicle."

While requirements to volunteer vary slightly from the different stations generally someone needs to be at least 18 years old, with a valid driver's license, be able to pass a background check, work well with others and be able to follow the chain of command. Other requirements may apply.

"We will use a volunteer where ever we can. EMTs, wildland fire, structure fire, river rescue, to paperwork, to buying supplies, running errands, running traffic on the highway and grant writing," wrote Hall echoing the words of the other chiefs. "Everyone has abilities of some kind, if they have a good attitude and common sense they can be used anywhere."

Anyone interested in volunteering are encouraged to call their local department.

The GPVFD can be reached by calling 406-244-5796 or email ryangpvfd@gmail.com. They can also be found on Facebook or visit their website http://www.gpvfd.org.

Those in Seeley Lake are encouraged to call 406-677-2400 or email seeleyfirechief@blackfoot.net. The SLRFD can also be found on Facebook or visit their website http://www.seeleyfire.org.

Those in the Swan Valley are invited to attend the next business meeting, the second Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at the fire hall in downtown Condon. For more information call Maloughney at 406-754-2260 or Williams at 406-754-3012 or visit SVES on Facebook.

For more information regarding national volunteer fire and emergency services visit the National Volunteer Fire Council's website, http://www.nvfc.org.