Fire chiefs in Knox County explore ways to stem shortage of personnel

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The boot’s on the other foot in Knox County these days.

Instead of the public calling on local fire departments for help, county firefighters are sending out their own SOS.

The pool of part-time and volunteer firefighters is drying up in many of these midcoast towns as demands on members multiply. Whether it’s because of their full-time employment, and in some cases second jobs, or family commitments, coupled with increasing federal and state training mandates for fire personnel, the ranks are dwindling, fire officials say.

So, the Knox County Fire Chiefs Association is talking about paid advertisements to draw interest in the firefighting force. In the interim, some departments are posting notices in town newsletters, and looking to area newspapers and radio for free publicity to boost interest. A survey of fire departments also was conducted last fall to help identify some of the issues surrounding recruitment and retention problems.

In November, Thomaston put a call out for firefighters and emergency medical technicians through its town newsletter, Assistant Fire Chief Jamie Leo said last week. There was no response.

“With only 27 people for both departments out of 4,000 [residents] in town, there must be someone out there willing to help us,” he wrote. Leo also is a career lieutenant with the Rockland Fire Department.

At a meeting Wednesday of the fire chiefs association, some of the members talked about the problems luring new members and maintaining current personnel. The association includes members from all Knox County towns, Waldoboro in Lincoln County, and Islesboro and Lincolnville in Waldo County.

“If you can get someone to show up regularly for six months you’ve got them hooked,” Warren Deputy Fire Chief William Lufkin said recently.

Warren’s fire department is one of the healthier ones as far as membership, which consists of a full-time chief and 42 paid on-call members overall. Only 25, however, are considered active, he said.

Washington Fire Department is the only one in Knox County that is truly a volunteer force, Washington Fire Chief Tom Johnston said.

“It’s not going to cost you anything,” he said, but, “my volunteers don’t make a penny.

“We somehow manage to hold pretty steady,” Johnston said. “The problem is they work.”

Coverage in most towns is best in the evenings and on weekends, the chiefs agreed, explaining that most firefighters are employed elsewhere full time during the weekday and some have second jobs to make ends meet. So, involvement in a fire service hinges on how much personal time people want to devote to it, he said.

“If it ever was a good-old-boys club, it isn’t anymore,” Johnston said.

Training demands have increased and with that a Midcoast Fire Academy was started last year, which travels around to several towns in the county to qualify members at the Firefighter II level. Some of training includes, among other things, learning about blood-borne pathogens, hazardous materials and fire extinguisher use.

“That’s all well and good,” Rockland Fire Chief Charles Jordan Jr. said Thursday of the academy. “It trains them, but it doesn’t get them in the door.

“For so long the enemy of this thing has been denial,” he said, referring to the decline in membership.

Membership numbers are not a true reflection of the strength of the countywide firefighting force, he said, explaining that many of Rockland’s full-time career members are paid on-call members in other towns. But their dual status can create issues when mutual aid is required.

Those “shared firefighters” can’t be counted twice, he said. “You shouldn’t [or] all of a sudden we have a false sense of security.

“The days of a single fire department handling one of its serious fires are long gone,” he said.

Rockland has 18 career firefighters, who are also emergency medical technicians, and 21 paid on-call members. “We’d comfortably like to have four more,” Jordan said of the latter.

“Some communities can muster up enough people,” he said, but “all would probably like more.”

Some potential members are lost after the first “bad” accident they respond to, Johnston said. “You have to want to [be involved]. Otherwise, the stress levels will get to you.”

The survey concluded that retention efforts need to be improved, as well as finding opportunities to increase membership through a specific plan. The poll also pointed out that there is a large untapped female population who could serve as firefighters.

Then, there’s the younger generation.

“We used to have a junior group,” Thomaston Fire Chief Mike Leo said. “We’re going back to the schools.”

Thomaston also plans to set up a lighted billboard to let people know the fire and ambulance services need the community’s help, he said.

People interested in becoming firefighters should stop by or call their local fire department.