Nationwide volunteer firefighter shortage impacts rural Upstate departments

CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C (WSPA) – A large proportion of the United States relies heavily on volunteer firefighters for emergencies, but their numbers are dwindling and shortage of volunteers is especially hard on rural departments.

Since its inception, the Goucher White Plains Fire Department in Cherokee County has been an all-volunteer department but because of a nationwide volunteer shortage, Fire Chief Jimmy Lamb said they had to make some changes.

“Just the last couple of years where we have essentially been forced to hire paid staff, or at least we pay some staff part time, so that there is a guaranteed person available when manpower or volunteers are short,” Lamb said. “When I first started in the fire service, there were no paid departments anywhere around and now nearly everybody is having to resort to hiring paid staff. As a rural community that’s a struggle.”

Lamb said the Goucher White Plains Fire Department is not unusual in its reliance on volunteers.

“Especially in small communities, the need for volunteers is critical,” Lamb explained. “You don’t have a tax base, you don’t have enough income to be able to provide a fully staffed department but we always ask the question, ‘what if you called for help and nobody came?'”

That question is one Lamb said his fire department works around every day.

“As an organization it’s our responsibility to our community to make sure that we have somebody available to respond,” Lamb added. “We have to think about adjusting how we respond or how we function on a call because we may not have enough people to arrive initially. So, we have to call additional resources or we send in resources to help other departments and then we have to figure out how do I still cover my area while our folks are out helping others.”

Lamb said there are several reasons for the shortage but one of the biggest is time.

“It’s difficult for people to have the time, we’re just busier in general than we ever have been,” said Lamb. “There are more requirements that the fire services has. We require more of our firefighters, and we should, but it is a little bit double edged, then to get the required training just to volunteer.”

Lamb said the training can be time consuming but there is a gain to that sacrifice.

“Everybody asks me, ‘why do you do this?’ And I am not sure I have a really good answer but I truly do believe it is a calling,” Lamb said. “It’s the best thing I have ever done and you think about impacting other people’s lives but it really can help grow you or change you as a person. You create friendships and bonds that you never would have the opportunity to do otherwise, it then becomes, it no longer is just something that you do but it is who you are.”

Lamb said for people interested in a career as a firefighter, volunteering is a great way to start.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter, Lamb recommends contacting your local fire department or you can contact the National Volunteer Fire Council.

NVFC’s Make Me A firefighter Program will help connect to local resources.

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