Due to a steady decrease in the number of volunteers throughout the commonwealth, the Fire Department of Montgomery Township (FDMT) has launched a recruitment drive to garner more members to their force.
The department has been awarded a FEMA SAFER Grant of $193,000 over four years in order to fund the recruitment of new members. This money goes to training new volunteers and providing the necessary equipment for members.
Montgomery Township already offers a real estate tax incentive, membership to the Montgomery Township Community and Recreation Center, and a night on call program to assist the department with recruitment and retention in addition to the grant.
“It is hard to find volunteers that are willing to commit to the orientation training that is required to be an Interior Firefighter,” said Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Wiegman III. “The department pays for the training and equipment; however, the training program demands over 200 hours of instruction and testing to achieve national certification as a firefighter.”
As it stands, largely due to the heavy training requirements for new fire service members, the department averages only 10-15 new members a year.
“I also believe that the nature of the job is an obstacle to recruiting volunteer firefighters. It takes a certain type of person to drop everything they are doing at a moment’s notice to run into burning buildings or extricate injured people from cars,” Wiegman said. “We are answering the call to help people that are having the worst day of their lives. I am sure it is hard for people to find agreement with their families that they are signing up to volunteer for a job that could result in their death or being injured.”
FDMT has decided to allocate most of their recruitment focus on younger demographics, citing the increased difficulty of older prospective volunteers to dedicate as much time to training and preparing for such a service on top of the responsibilities they already have.
“It is hard for us to recruit middle-aged people with families to be volunteer firefighters,” Wiegman said. “We usually only get these types of volunteers because they were previously engaged in firefighting with other organizations and moved to our community.”
As part of their efforts to recruit younger people to be volunteer firefighters, FDMT is considering a partnership with the Boy Scouts of America to host an Explorer Program for individuals between the ages of 14 and 21 that are interested in the fire service. As part of the program, at 16 years old, explorers will have the option to join the FDMT as a junior member.
“We are hoping to capture the interest of younger people so that we can have them trained and ready to be interior firefighter qualified by the time of their 18th birthday. We also want to have a program that provides a resource for younger adults that want to serve their community and learn skills related to firefighting and public service,” said Wiegman. “We are hoping to boost our community’s culture of service by having an Explorer Post.”
The Fire Department of Montgomery Township is a combination fire company primarily composed of volunteers and supplemented with a paid staff to ensure proper response and capabilities. Those interested in volunteering for the fire service can visit the FDMT website.
