Alarming situation: Volunteer fire companies fight 'crisis'
Towns all over the state – and the country — are looking for ways to respond to inadequate numbers of volunteers, who constitute 70 percent of the country's nearly 1.2 million firefighters, according to the National Fire Protection Association, and avert an all-out public-safety crisis at a time when fire calls are increasing dramatically.
The challenges result from a combination of factors, including additional training requirements; longer commutes to work that take potential volunteers farther from fire calls; the rise of two-income households, placing time constraints on would-be volunteers; and fund-raising pressures.
If the volunteer force disappeared and towns had to augment their staff with more career firefighters, many budgets would double and its capital budget could triple.
Your Millville Volunteer Fire Company is always looking for volunteers for both the fire service/ EMS and Ladies Auxiliary