WOODBURY — The question still stands, how do you choose to give back to your community? Most people these days don’t even think about joining their local volunteer fire department. But why?
Southington fire marshal Rick Molleur says there are many reasons why fewer people than ever want to volunteer as firefighters.
Molleur says some may be concerned about the risks of cancer or injuries, the increased amount of mandatory training compared to the past, or changes in the modern workplace where employers are not allowed to leave work for a fire call. Also, the overall decrease in the amount of fires due to safety improvements in newer buildings makes for fewer fires, which makes the job less exciting for some newer firefighters who want to use their newly acquired fire fighting skills.
Or, when it comes to junior corps, high school students are at school for the majority of the day, unable to leave.
Sean Scanlon, the state comptroller for Connecticut, started his term in 2023. He recently made a report on the state’s rapid decline for volunteer firefighters – there’s been a 63% decrease in volunteers since 2017.
“What this report, I believe, is meant to do is serve as a wake-up call to people in every level of government, from state government to municipal government to federal government, to say that if we don’t figure out a way to stop this decline and make sure that our communities have the resources that they need in terms of firefighter power and the resources that we need to attract and retain them, we are going to continue to see communities have public safety challenges and risks for public safety,” Scanlon said.
Amid growing concerns about public safety and the shrinking number of first responders, lawmakers are sounding the alarm on urgent need for action, as Scanlon emphasizes.
There is a similar decline in junior corps around the state, with multiple problems in different towns. While there may be a large number of juniors in some towns like Seymour, some people don’t want to join something you cannot put the bare minimum into. Instead, firefighting requires showing up and putting in the work.
“Seymour Fire Juniors has around 22 kids in the program, but only about half show up for the drills and calls,” said Noah Zupan, captain of the Seymour Junior Corps and a Nonnewaug junior. “Seems like everyone wants to say they are a part of something but never want to put in the work that comes with being in the fire department.”
It’s hard. They call it volunteer work, which makes it sound like less of a commitment, but with that being said, it’s a very important volunteer job that is necessary in our communities.
“The junior corps is not how it was before,” said Nonnewaug junior Noah Blood, a member of the junior corps in Oxford and Seymour. “I myself stopped going to some training and stuff because everyone stopped and it’s just really messy, but I want to be a career fireman and still own my business. I understand the amount of training you have to do with the [Connecticut] Fire Academy to become a career fireman, but I would do it because being a career firefighter sounds better.”
As the generation moves on in life, there needs to be more spirit in the volunteer fire department, as the fire department saves lives and does so much for the community. There’s a need for more people willing to take action in this work because of this major problem of rapid decline in firefighters.
