Across rural America, public safety volunteers are in decline. Their dwindling ranks are determining how fires are fought and how emergency medical care is provided. Rural communities that have long relied heavily on volunteers for these services are struggling to fill the gap.
Jefferson County is among them.
According to the most recent National Fire Protection Association data, 682,600 volunteer firefighters comprised an estimated 65% of the nation’s firefighters in 2017 — a 6% decrease from the previous year and the lowest estimate since the NFPA started measuring it in 1986. In that time, the number of volunteer firefighters per 1,000 people declined to 5.8 from 7.88. Most of those volunteer firefighters — 85% — served in departments protecting fewer than 10,000 people.
