Where the volunteers went, and what Pennsylvania's recruiting grants added

In 2017, 60 volunteer fire departments in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, covering 83 stations, signed on to share a $4.3 million federal grant run through the Hempfield Township Bureau of Fire. The money paid for gear, physicals and training for new members, tuition reimbursement, and stipends for members who made enough calls, drills and meetings. By January 2021 the program had brought in 267 recruits against a goal of 300. By 2023, the Tribune-Review reported, it was credited with about 470.

Forbes Road Fire Chief Bob Rosatti, who sat on the grant's advisory board, said his company picked up seven or eight volunteers, a "high number" for them. "This was by no means the solution to the problem … but it did help some fire companies," he said.

The national count of volunteers kept falling over the same years.

A smaller roster

There were an estimated 635,100 volunteer firefighters in the United States in 2023, out of 1,018,100 firefighters in total, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) notes that the number hit a low that year. In 1986, the first year in NFPA's current table, there were 808,200. That's a drop of about 21 percent.

The count rose in a few years along the way, including 2022, and still ended the period about 173,000 lower.

Demand ran the other way. The NVFC notes that call volume has more than tripled over the past 40 years, driven largely by emergency medical calls. Volunteers still make up 62 percent of the country's firefighters, and of 29,452 departments, 18,873 are all volunteer and another 5,335 are mostly volunteer.

The volunteers who remain are also getting older, and the NVFC says departments find younger members the hardest to attract.

In 2017 the Fire Protection Research Foundation estimated that the time volunteers donate saves localities about $46.9 billion a year, and the NVFC points out that for many communities switching to a career staffing model isn't feasible. Small communities under 10,000 people are typically protected by all-volunteer departments, and many mid-sized ones by combination departments.

In Pennsylvania, State Fire Commissioner Bruce Trego said in 2021 that the state had an estimated 38,000 firefighters, down from about 80,000 in the 1990s.

Why people leave or never join

The NVFC points to bigger time demands and heavier training requirements, along with two-income households that have no spare hours. Longer commutes keep people out of their home districts during the day.

"We answer approximately 800 calls per year," New Kensington Fire Chief Ed Saliba Jr. told the Tribune-Review. "We have to start out with over 200 hours of training, and constant fundraising takes a lot of time away from training."

In Scottdale, Fire Chief Dave Wendell said the hardest recruits to reach are people without a family tie to the station: "If you're not born into this, it can be hard to get somebody who has a full-time job and can't really give all that time to training and doing a very dangerous job for free."

What the federal staffing grants pay for

Federal money for recruiting comes through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program, run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Its recruitment and retention category funds volunteer departments directly, and Pennsylvania departments have used it for:

• Getting a recruit to the line. Turnout gear, physicals and Firefighter I training, costs that used to come out of station budgets.
• Keeping the members you have. Call stipends tied to a minimum response percentage, tuition reimbursement and accidental death and dismemberment coverage.
• Marketing. A slogan, a website, social media and a campaign that tells the public the department needs help.
• Regional scale. Many departments sharing one grant and one campaign, with a single administrator handling the paperwork.

The national campaign runs on SAFER money as well. The NVFC's Make Me A Firefighter program, launched in 2014 with a SAFER grant, gives departments free recruiting materials and a portal to post openings. Two older NVFC programs work the edges of the problem. Fire Corps, run by the NVFC since 2004, brings community members into non-emergency roles so trained members can focus on response, and the National Junior Firefighter Program, launched in 2007, supports youth programs that feed future members.

The Pennsylvania grants

The Westmoreland County grant was the big regional test. Besides gear and training, it paid about $986,000 in stipends and $488,000 in tuition reimbursement by early 2021, and every participating firefighter got $250,000 in accidental death and dismemberment coverage. Bradenville Fire Chief Mark Piantine said 17 or 18 new members had signed up and that 18 to 20 of his members were earning the $550 stipend.

The Capital Region campaign around Harrisburg started in April 2022 with a four-year, $2.2 million grant to the Capital Region Council of Governments, shared by 21 fire companies. The goal was 200 volunteers. The companies added 71 in the first year and 173 by 2025. The retention side offered up to $500 to Firefighter I-certified members who made at least 12 percent of the prior year's calls, and training became free for volunteers.

New Kingstown Fire Chief Curtis Hall said the advertising mattered because the public didn't know there was a problem: "They see the fire trucks rolling down the street and they assume that there are people on them, so if we don't get that word out there that we need help, then they don't know."

The recruits didn't fit one profile. The campaign's own write-up in 2025 featured recruits including a 19-year-old biochemistry student at Dickinson College and a financial services worker who came back to the fire service after years away and now also serves as his company's secretary. "There's a role for everyone. We need people for fundraising, administration, outreach and more," said that returning volunteer, Bruce Nilson of Camp Hill. Even so, as the grant entered its final year, the campaign said the need for new volunteers remained dire.

Smaller departments wrote their own grants. Southwest Greensburg used $405,000 to add 12 firefighters to the 31 it had a year before, with a slogan, a website and a campaign set to run through 2026. Chief Bill Wright Jr. said the aim was "to drive our numbers up and bring in people who can help and lower our average age." West Deer Township Volunteer Fire Company No. 3, with a $95,000 grant, brought in nine members against a goal of 10. "It has helped significantly," Chief Josh Wiegand said.

Where it stops short

The chiefs also describe the limits. Youngstown Volunteer Fire Department took part in the Westmoreland grant and its members used the stipends and tuition money, but Chief Barry Banker said the grant "didn't create a marked turnaround in the number of people beating down our door to be firefighters." When he joined, there was a waiting list.

The published figures count recruits, not retention. None of these programs has published how many recruits were still riding three or five years later. Stipends and free gear end with the grant unless a municipality budgets for them.

Before you apply

Start with your own numbers, including active members by age and how many recruits from five years ago are still active. Talk to the departments next door before writing a grant. The regional grants in Westmoreland County and around Harrisburg brought in the most recruits. Then decide what you'll keep paying for when the federal money runs out.