In an effort to avoid actually hiring a firefighter, Hempfield officials want to offer money to spur volunteers to respond to emergencies and regularly report to fire stations.
The goal of the staffing and incentive programs is to bolster responses from volunteers and avoid a potential morale sting of bringing a paid firefighter onboard.
The program was proposed by fire Chief Tony Kovacic and Deputy Chief John Storey as a way to combat the shrinking ranks of volunteers within the department — a decades-long issue seen across Pennsylvania and the country — while increasing the number of firefighters responding to calls.
“It comes to the age that we live in, in which people are torn in different directions,” Storey said. “We’re fortunate with our members that they’re engaged enough to spend some time at the fire house and respond to those emergencies within the community.”
In addition to the staffing and incentive programs, department officials also suggested hiring a paid firefighter to help boost response times during the day — a time when fewer volunteers are available as they work their jobs. Township supervisors, however, cited concerns over creating morale issues.
“This board wants to give the volunteers a chance to help us, to help us solve this problem,” said board Chairman George Reese. “It’s not our intention to have a paid fire department.”
Supervisor John Silvis agreed.
“It’s definitely a morale issue,” Silvis said. “If we had a paid driver and there’s a fire call, I’m not going. He gets paid, let him go. I think we should treat everybody fairly and like you say, give them a stipend to participate and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.”
The proposed staffing program would work to encourage volunteer firefighters to spend time at one of the township’s 11 fire stations to help familiarize them with equipment and station duties while also increasing training opportunities. The other program would offer money to encourage volunteers to respond to scenes.
According to township documents, the staffing program could create two-hour shifts for qualifying members for the purpose of responding to incidents and attending public relations events. Additional incentives could be given to staff stations between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
“We’re looking at staffing across the board,” Storey said. “If we have members that can engage and be at the fire house, that’s great because that’s going to help decrease that response time in responding to those emergencies, which is a little bit of a shift from the at-home response model that we’ve historically seen within our area.”
To qualify, members must be active and in good standing, maintain hazardous materials training, meet minimum monthly training requirements and be qualified as a driver or operator of at least one piece of fire suppression apparatus, documents show.
The incentive program could offer a stipend to firefighters, similar to the incentive program already laid out under the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant. Within the SAFER program, qualifying firefighters who respond receive $5 per incident.
Reese noted that township leaders have not decided on how the program could work, but suggested pay-per-call incentives or creating part-time shifts.
“Numbers are falling, there’s no question about that. But the mindset of it has changed. If you offer them something, compensate them, maybe it will give them a reason to come around more, to answer calls,” Reese said. “We’ve got to at least try.”
Storey noted that the goal is not to create a career fire department. Rather, officials are working toward a professional fire department with engaged members.
“We’re just trying to find ways to bolster and support,” Storey said. “The volunteer fire service in Pennsylvania across the board, it is struggling and if we don’t step in now with some outside-of-the-box type thinking and attempts, it’s going to get significantly worse.”
Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-1203, mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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