CRESTWOOD, Ky. — In the United States, 67% of all firefighters are volunteers, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
That’s because many fire departments outside of cities rely on volunteer firefighters to help fight fires and respond to other emergencies, and Kentucky is no different with many fire departments needing volunteers now more than ever, due to a firefighter shortage.
Kevin Parker, the assistant chief of South Oldham Fire District in Crestwood is passionate about giving back to his community
“And I’ve been here for about, I believe, 12 years now. Forty years in the fire service altogether, and all 40 as a volunteer,” Parker told Spectrum News 1.
The 58-year-old works in the dental industry, but said his career has never detracted from his love of being a volunteer firefighter.
“And really the ultimate way to give back to the community is doing exactly this. It’s saving lives. It’s saving property. [It’s] helping others,” Parker said.
It is an act of service that Parker wants more Kentuckians to do because there’s a shortage of volunteer firefighters. Rural areas don’t have city-sized budgets, which means the community has to step up.
“You’ve got to have the quick response. Firefighters getting out quickly on EMS runs, car accidents, and others, and on fires you absolutely have to have the crew. You’ve got to have the crew. It’s the first thing that will get you on a fire, is lack of crew,” Parker explained.
According to Executive Director Larry Potter with the Kentucky Fire Commission (KFC), "There is also a problem with getting career firefighters, especially in the last year or so.”
Potter further explained, in an email to Spectrum News 1, “There are approximately 17,000 volunteers in Kentucky, with about 61% being actually certified, or a little over 10,000 certified [volunteer firefighters] with 150-hour certification “ He added, “We show approximately 3,700 paid firefighters in the state, all of which are certified with their 400-hour certification. Some of those paid firefighters do volunteer with other departments or multiply departments.”
Eric Philpot, president of the Kentucky Firefighters Association, said he started seeing a decline in the number of volunteer firefighters in 2015. Plus, the pandemic has made it worse, which means more fire departments are depending on mutual aid. Mutual aid is when one fire department helps another out.
“And I know a lot of other departments across the state are changing their policies to do kind of an automatic mutual aid. That if they get called out, then maybe the next closest department will get called out to come help them,” Philpot explained. “I think right now everybody’s handling what they are getting put on, but at some point there’s going to be, just like you said, that tipping point, and it’s just going to overwhelm some of these departments.”
The nature of the work for paid and volunteer firefighters is the same, with a required certifications plus annual training hours.
In Kentucky there is a difference in the required annual training hours, with career firefighters needing 100 hours annually and volunteers only need 20 hours. However, this can vary by department. For example, the South Oldham Fire District requires 60 annual training hours for its volunteer firefighters.
Volunteers also choose which alerts they respond to. Parker said volunteers who put in the effort serve about 12-24 hours a month.
“Not every volunteer can up and leave a job so we depend on them at nights and weekends,” Parker said. “And if they work nights, then we would depend on them during the daytime, but we depend on them when they are not working usually to come up.”
Kentucky law protects volunteer firefighters. For example, employers can’t fire an employee who is absent or late for work because of responding to an emergency, and there are protections for time off due to injury.
“And to say it can be dangerous is absolutely true, but I will tell you that the number one thing that every fire department looks at is safety first. And we build everything around safety,” Parker told Spectrum News 1. “There are many people who, I believe, would like the adventure, and, more importantly, to give back, and we just need them to step up.”
Philpot with the Kentucky Firefighters Association said that not every volunteer firefighter is expected to fight fires. There are also volunteers who drive the fire truck, stay back and offer support, and in other roles to serve.
Philpot said if you’re interested in volunteer firefighting, then talk to your local fire department about what opportunities there are to help out.