Local fire brigade districts keep open houses to combat voluntary fire brigade lacks

Filer, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) – Spring -Spring has just come here, but the fire brigades across Idaho are already looking at the summer … When our state usually sees more forest fires.

“We have good members and we have a volume of members, but they cannot always answer,” said Chief Phil Roberts from the Filer Fire District.

The Filer Fire District is largely empty on a Thursday afternoon with only Chief Roberts in the building … This is because they are a volunteer fire department.

“The difficulty is to get everyone, they have to have enough human volume to fill out every hour of the day. And there the deficiency really comes into play. It is not due to a lack of enthusiasm or skills, it is exactly the time, ”said Chief Roberts.

In fact, more than half of Idaho firefighters are volunteers.

“About 5,100 firefighters within the state of Idaho and similar to the nation, about 70% of them are voluntary,” said captain Kirk Carpenter from Idaho Fire Chief's Association.

According to the Idaho Fire Chiefs Association, it has become more difficult for younger generations to give a working day to donate their time, carpenter “the cost of living, so that we ask one of our younger generations in our communities to go to work if we know that their mortgage or rent three times ago, 30 years ago, we know very difficult.” It is very difficult.

The National Volunteer Fire Council reports that the numbers have decreased by around 200,000 people in the past ten years.

In the Rock Creek Fire District you have three full -time employees and around 12 volunteer firefighters.

The deputy chief Ron Aguirre says they are critical: “The time in which we are outside in an EMS call because we also lead in this district of Ems come in, our volunteers come in and they avoid the station and they then make additional calls.”

In order to help with the recruitment efforts, the fire brigade stations in Idaho will organize an open house this Saturday, March 15th.

There is the opportunity to learn something about the different roles that a fire station has and what volunteers do.

“For me it made me a better person because they only see the vulnerability of everyone, and I think it brings the sympathy and the wish, so I'm really grateful for her hearts,” said Chief Roberts.

At your local fire station, inquire about when you will organize your event.

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