Ohio has nearly 400 vacant volunteer firefighter positions, according to job listings compiled by .
Governor Mike DeWine announced last week that the state is turning up the heat on its recruitment campaign. It鈥檚 offering free training classes for volunteer firefighters and will begin airing 30-second public service announcements across the state. They鈥檒l share the stories of volunteer firefighters and why they choose to be their community鈥檚 emergency responders.
Terry Kuhlman has been a volunteer firefighter for half a century in Lakeview. He said the shortage has hit the northwest Ohio village in recent years. They鈥檙e struggling to get volunteers at the station.
鈥淧eople are moving away or changing jobs and whatever the case may be,鈥� Kuhlman said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e probably lost about seven [firefighters], close to ten, probably in the last two years.鈥�
Nearly 70% of Ohio鈥檚 fire stations are volunteer run, like Kuhlman鈥檚. And many face similar challenges. From 2018 to 2021, there was a 6.5% decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters in the state,
Barriers to recruitment
It鈥檚 an issue that the state has been looking at for a while. DeWine formed the in 2022 to look into the barriers to recruiting volunteers.
Its report found that many volunteer firefighters have to pay for their own personal protection equipment and take time off work to do training. On top of that, Kuhlman said firefighters have to be prepared to give large chunks of their personal time to respond to emergencies.
鈥淵ou gotta be somebody that is willing to donate 100% of your time,鈥� he said.
It's a big ask for civilians to take up, especially Kuhlman said without any financial incentives. He said he wants volunteer firefighters to receive .
That鈥檚 one of the task force鈥檚 many recommendations to ease recruitment woes. It also suggested increasing paid leave time for volunteer firefighters and providing tuition vouchers at Ohio鈥檚 career and technical schools.
Small town challenges
Rural communities are more likely to have volunteer fire departments, but those areas come with unique recruiting challenges. In small towns, like Lakeview, rural workers often travel to other towns for work and aren鈥檛 around most of the day to respond to emergencies.
鈥淗ere in Lakeview from like 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., there might be three people showing up. Where, if you get [a call] after 6 p.m., you鈥檙e going to get 10 [people responding] because they鈥檙e home from their jobs,鈥� Kuhlman said.
When fire stations lose volunteers, Kuhlman said stations鈥� response times to community emergencies become delayed, giving time for fires to grow more dangerous. That increases the risk for the rural volunteer responders themselves.
鈥淰olunteer firefighters can be exposed to much higher levels of risk because they often are faced with fighting larger fires with far fewer people and only 15% of the training afforded to paid firefighters,鈥� the by the Volunteer Fire Service Task Force reads.
Rewarding work
Despite the challenges, Kuhlman said his work is rewarding.
鈥淚 love helping people. Many people that I helped out on a wreck or whatever the case may be, years later, they'll see me on the street and they'll congratulate me or thank me for what I did.鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat there just makes me so proud that I'm there to help them out.鈥�
At the age of 68, Kuhlman doesn鈥檛 want to stop volunteering anytime soon, even though he鈥檚 fifteen years older than the average Ohio volunteer firefighters age of 54.
He said he鈥檒l keep going as long as he is able. He wants to help train the next generation of recruits in doing lifesaving work.
鈥淓verything that I learned in my 50 years of service, I don't want to take any of it to the grave,鈥� he said.