(From the Office of the State Fire Marshal)
As the state of Ohio continues to experience an alarming decline in the number of its volunteer firefighters, the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of State Fire Marshal’s Ohio Fire Academy has launched an innovative new portal to more easily and directly connect Ohioans with available opportunities at their local fire houses so communities across the state continue to have access to the protection they deserve.
Approximately 70% of Ohio’s nearly 1,200 fire departments rely on volunteers, but a significant decline in the volunteer fire service is jeopardizing its future viability. While the number of emergency calls is increasing across the state, the number of volunteer firefighters is decreasing. From 2018 to 2021, there was a 6.5% decrease in the number of volunteer firefighters; meanwhile, from 2018 to 2020, there was a 9% increase in calls.
The nation is experiencing a similar trend. According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, approximately 65% of the country’s estimated 1,041,200 firefighters are volunteers, and 64% of 29,452 fire departments in the U.S. are all-volunteer. In 2020, the number of volunteer firefighters in the U.S. reached a low while call volume has more than tripled in the last 35 years.
The Division’s new state-of-the-art Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment Portal aims to address these challenges by streamlining the recruitment process and making it easier than ever for Ohioans who are interested in joining the volunteer fire service to connect with their local department. In a matter of just seconds, Ohioans can enter basic location and contact information into the portal and submit an inquiry that is sent directly to their nearest volunteer fire departments. Once submitted, the fire chiefs of those departments are notified so they can follow up with those interested individuals.
“Volunteer fire departments are the backbone of Ohio’s fire service, and our hope is that this new recruitment portal is a game-changer for them, especially in terms of their ability to engage with and recruit the next generation of brave hometown heroes,” said State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon. “For anyone looking to serve their community, this is truly a one-stop shop to get connected with their local volunteer departments and make a potentially life-saving difference.”
The development of this portal expands upon recent efforts by the Division of State Fire Marshal to address the decline in volunteer firefighters. Following the 2023 Governor’s Volunteer Fire Service Task Force, over the past year, the Division has launched two media campaigns to highlight this dangerous trend and encourage Ohioans to consider becoming volunteer firefighters. These campaigns directed individuals to the National Volunteer Fire Council’s Make Me a Firefighter website at makemeafirefighter.org and resulted in a significant increase in inquiries about volunteer opportunities in the state. During the campaigns, Ohio-based visits to makemeafirefighter.org increased by over 1,000% from the preceding year, more than 14,000 zip code searches were conducted, and users initiated over 2,500 actions to contact a local fire department, such as completing an interest form or making a call. As a result of the success of this initiative, the Division’s campaign was recently named a finalist for a prestigious Ragan Communications PR Daily Nonprofit Communications Award.
The new Volunteer Recruitment Portal allows the Division to further enhance these efforts by focusing on local recruitment and providing additional support and resources to volunteer fire departments throughout Ohio. Whereas makemeafirefighter.org is a nationwide search database, this new portal is specific to Ohio and allows the Division to more directly engage with volunteers and notify department leadership of potential volunteer interest.
In addition to the awareness campaigns and development of this new portal, the Division of State Fire Marshal continues to support future volunteer firefighter recruitment efforts by providing training and classes for volunteer firefighters and volunteer departments at no cost to them.
“The future of Ohio’s volunteer fire service is critical to the future safety of our communities and those who call them home,” Reardon said. “While we are committed to doing everything possible to support the men and women of the volunteer fire service, we are calling on brave and selfless Ohioans in every corner of the state to consider how they might step up and become the heroes our communities so desperately need.”