Kansas fire departments experience shortage of volunteer firefighters

RENO COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) – The vast majority of Kansas firefighters are volunteers, but those volunteers are becoming more difficult to recruit. Many fire stations in Reno County are facing staffing shortages.

The National Volunteer Fire Council tells KSN that of the 16,000 firefighters in Kansas, all but roughly 3,000 are volunteers.

Fire chiefs say a shortage of firefighters can lead to delayed and understaffed responses to emergencies, and they’re trying to put a stop to that.

There are differing opinions on why that might be happening. Some believe it’s because most families are dual income now and have less time to volunteer, while others see a need to diversify recruiting efforts.

Reno County Fire District 3 Chief Gerald Weins says no matter the cause. He knows Reno County’s other volunteer fire districts just don’t have enough hands on deck.

“They have the same issues that I have here, you know. They also have people that work in Hutch and don’t live as much in, say, Haven or Arlington as in years past, so they’re dealing with the same issues around,” said Chief Wiens.

Chief Wiens says the main reason fewer people are volunteering in his area is that most have jobs far away in Hutch or Wichita. Because of that, they’re out in the community less often and have less time to volunteer.

Volunteer firefighters like the ones in Nickerson are doing a lot of heavy lifting.

“Certainly, in Kansas, it is clearly the volunteer fire service that protects the majority of the land mass,” said Steve Hirsch, National Volunteer Fire Council Chairman.

When those firefighters become fewer, it ramps up challenges for small towns.

Chief Wiens says his department is 66% staffed. He says when major events like structure fires happen, manpower gets eaten up, and the gaps start showing.

“Once you staff that, you may be out of people until somebody comes from another community to assist you,” said Chief Wiens.

When people come from out of town to respond, it takes longer for them to get to the emergency.

Hirsch says the solution is recruitment.

“We gotta make sure we’re reaching out to women who are not the majority… certainly that’s not traditionally a large part of our firefighter makeup; we gotta reach out to minorities,” said Hirsch.

“Putting together a program, explorers for the high schoolers so the high school seniors that are, you know, 17-18 years old can come in and they would be, of course, they would have to go out with an experienced staff member here,” said Chief Wiens.

Chief Wiens says that by showing teens the ropes, He hopes to encourage kids to join the department once they get older. He also plans to hold an open house at a fire station in the spring to help draw more people to sign up.