Lack of volunteer firefighters could squeeze finances in Southwestern Berks

by Steve Reinbrecht

The dwindling number of volunteers is the main issue with local firefighting operation, said Jared Renshaw, fire commissioner of the Western Berks Fire Department, which covers Sinking Spring, Wernersville and Lower and South Heidleberg [just like this blog.]

The big worry is if the department will have to hire more people.

Jared Renshaw

“It’s always a personnel thing.”

The department had 906 calls in 2015, and about 600 through August – an average of more than 17 a week.

It has four paid firefighters and 30 volunteers.

With more new houses in the area [many with automatic fire alarms] and more traffic [and crashes], the number of calls is increasing, Renshaw said.

Sometimes calls come in on top of each other. Often, his firefighters help other departments. He showed me the spreadsheets that Berks dispatchers use to allocate fire trucks.

Sometimes a day or two go by with no calls. Firefighters keep busy maintaining equipment and vehicles. Lives depend on that work.

Firefighters also teach fire safety, as they did on recent visits to SpringRose Childcare in South Heidelberg and Green Valley Elementary School. Fire Prevention Week starts Oct. 9.

They help raise funds. On Aug. 30, the department raised about $200 at a fundraiser at Five Guys restaurant in Sinking Spring to help pay for smoke detectors and batteries for residences.

Firefighters and others plan to install smoke detectors in homes on Sept. 17 on North Galen Hall Road in South Heidelberg Township and Oct. 8 on Woodrow Avenue and South Hull Street in Sinking Spring.

It’s hard to attract volunteer firefighters for many reasons. The type of local industry that allowed the system to work no longer exists in the area. Many people volunteer, train, and then go away to college. Many people have trouble leaving corporate jobs. More people commute. The work is hard and the training is demanding. Firefighters have to train for hundreds of hours just to go to a fire, and many more hours to drive. Volunteers train every Monday night.

In a meeting with state senators last month, Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Tim Solobay spoke about the problem recruiting volunteer firefighters.

“When people in Pennsylvania dial 9-1-1, and nobody comes, shame on all of us for not getting things done," Solobay said.

In another article, Solobay said the state had about 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s and about 50,000 today.

"It's had a major impact on departments and how they operate and how they run. … It's made folks look for different ways of trying to recruit, just find out why we don't have folks wanting to volunteer anymore."

Western Berks has four professional firefighters – two each at the Wernersville and Sinking Spring stations, which are the most central. Renshaw manages the operations, budget, and personnel, and fights fires.

Taxpayers help fund the department by paying fire taxes, based on municipal populations. For example, the fire tax is 0.8 mill in Lower Heidelberg, or $160 a year for a home assessed at $200,000. It’s 0.82 mill in Sinking Spring. South Heidelberg budgeted $310,000 for fire-fighting in 2016.

The department bought a $1 million ladder truck this year, based in Sinking Spring, with 15- and 20-year loans.

Each municipality had its own fire department before merging in 2009. The governing board has eight people – an elected official and firefighter from each municipality.

The United State’s 790,000 volunteer firefighters comprise almost 70 percent of all local firefighters, according to the National Fire Protection Association.