Fire fighter shortage hits local departments

OKTIBBEHA, Miss. (WCBI)- Many kids have dreams of driving the shiny red truck and fighting fires.

But as kids turn into adults that enthusiasm often fades.

“What if you had a fire and nobody came,” said Oktibbeha County Fire Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan.

It’s a problem faced by volunteer fire departments all across the nation.

A lack of people stepping up to help out.

And local departments are being hit hard.

“We’re shorthanded. We are careful about that if the call is just a simple EMS call, yes, we probably get a couple guys to go, and that’s no big deal, but for a fire case, or a wreck, we automatically send the two nearest departments, not necessarily for the equipment, but for the manpower. The number of firefighters is important not only to get the job done but to get it done safely,” said Rosenhan.

But what’s behind the manpower shortage?

“That’s hard to say, I’ve talked to a couple sociologists about that, but people just don’t, they’re just not that interested in volunteering. From what I gather, much less getting up at 4 o’clock and getting all dirty. People just don’t volunteer like they use to,” said Rosenhan.

“A lot of people think it’s a really hard thing to do, and it takes a lot of time, but it really doesn’t. It’s on your own time it’s volunteering you know you get out there when you can go do it,” said Ward Ellis.

When it comes to night time fires, Kirk Rosenhan said they usually have a right turn out, but daytime fires are a different story.

“One of the main supporters of the fire department works at the post office, and he can’t leave work. A couple other people could leave their jobs, at least for a short time, and then and some of the other areas in town is just nobody there, and they have to come from town or wherever they may be working that day,” said Rosenhan.

Many departments are struggling with getting younger volunteers on board.

But Oktibbeha does have one advantage over other counties.

“Most of our department is actually college students and having the college students really helps out with a lot of the adults during the day that can’t get out and go to these calls mostly the majority of the calls during the day are run by college students,” said Ellis.

Student and volunteer firefighter Ward Ellis said he plans to continue volunteering even after he graduates.

He said the skills he has learned will help him in anything he does.