VFDs face recruiting, funding challenges

By Bart Moss for the FCT

Volunteer fire departments are the backbone of communities. When there is a fire, they are there. When there is a medical emergency, they are there. When there is a natural disaster, they are there.

What many people don’t realize is that the overall health of a volunteer fire department – funding, equipment, members, etc. – determines how much homeowner’s insurance rates are in communities they serve.

What many people also don’t realize is the constant struggle volunteer fire departments have in maintaining the right amount of funding and recruiting new volunteers.

“It is a tough, never-ending job to keep our departments functioning at the level they need to be functioning at,” said Michael Moomaw, president of the Franklin County Volunteer Firemen’s Association.

“We are constantly fundraising,” he said. “The people in our communities always rise up to help.  I think our communities know the value our departments offer them. We have to maintain our equipment and sometimes get new equipment to meet standards, which are the same as a paid fire department.”

Moomaw also added that recruiting new members is becoming difficult.

“A lot of people just don’t feel like they are up to the job,” said Moomaw. “It takes a special group of people to do this. It is an unpaid, volunteer job. People have jobs and families. A lot of times it’s hard for people to take on extra duties.

“A lot of work goes into becoming a volunteer fireman,” he added. “It is physically grueling. It can also be a strain mentally. You see a lot of things in this line of work that are hard to erase from your mind. Some people just can’t deal with that.”

Mary Hallman Glass, president of the Blue Springs Fire Department, agreed with Moomaw on the value a volunteer fire department offers.

“We are usually people’s first response in most emergencies,” said Glass. “It’s not just fires. It could be medical issues. It might take an ambulance 20 minutes to get to some homes, where it might take your volunteer fire department only five or ten minutes.”

John James, regional training center coordinator for the Alabama Fire College, estimated that over two-thirds of Franklin County is covered by volunteer fire departments.

“The City of Russellville is the only full-time fire department in the county,” said James. “Everyone else is served by volunteer fire departments.”

James also explained that a volunteer fire department’s ISO rating can impact homeowner’s insurance rates.

“A one-point increase or decrease in a fire department’s ISO rating can result in 10 percent increase or decrease in a homeowner’s insurance policy,” said James.

“Our department had our ISO rating drop from a 9 to a 5,” said Glass, referring to Blue Springs.  “That was a decrease of about $800 to $1200 in annual insurance rates for most people.  Citizens save a lot of money because we are there.”

ISO ratings are determined by water availability, hydrants, 911 communications, equipment, training, response times and membership numbers.

Recruiting volunteers is a growing challenge for volunteer fire departments for a variety of reasons – time constraints, dangerous work, no pay.

“We have to get more young people involved and educate people on the importance of their volunteer fire departments in our communities,” said Glass. “The reason it is so hard to recruit new members to a volunteer fire department is because it is a volunteer job. There is no money in it. Young people have busy lives, especially if they have children. Members of our department get 40 hours of training each year, and that’s on top of them working their real jobs 40-60 hours a week.”

In some instances the requirements are even tougher for a volunteer fire department than for a paid fire department. A paid fire department may four paid firemen, and ISO would count them as four members. The volunteer fire department must have 12 members for ISO to count them as four members.

Legislation, drafted and sponsored by Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, was introduced in the special session on Aug. 3 that would help alleviate some of the funding issues of the fire departments.

The legislation would allow the Franklin County Commission to divide the county into fire districts. Each district would have the ability to vote to self-impose a small fee to help fund the volunteer fire departments. The fee would be added to ad valorem, or property, taxes. The initiative, if passed, would be on the ballot in the November 2016 general election.

“Other counties in the state of Alabama have similar laws,” said Morrow. “I have been working for 25 years trying to secure stable funding for our volunteer fire departments. They are the backbone of our communities. They do a very good job with what they have to work with.  Imagine what they could do with a stable source of funding.

“People don’t realize the savings they get on their homeowners insurance is a direct result of the hard work and efforts of these fine people,” added Morrow. “They have been having to make it on their own with whatever fundraiser they could come up with. It’s a blessing we have people like this in our communities.”

Rep. Ken Johnson, who represents the easternmost portion of Franklin County, and Sen. Larry Stutts are supportive of the bill as well.

“Our volunteer fire departments are a critical part of our rural communities,” said Stutts.  “If given the opportunity, I believe the vast majority of citizens will see the value in what these individuals do for us on a daily basis and vote to stabilize their funding.”

“I am certainly willing to let the people vote on the bill for Franklin County,” said Johnson.  “It’s the voting residents who insurance rates are most impacted by the service provided by the fire departments. It is so hard on those who are willing to volunteer to provide those services and yet at the same time to be continually raising money.”