Oct 9, 2018 3 min read

This issue is dedicated to the five men who this year are marking 40 years with the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department, which has served the area since 1902.

Over the years, the five firefighters, plus deceased fireman Mike Nixon, who would have reached his 40-year mark in 2018 as well, accumulated 240 years with the department – the equivalent of $18 million in service to the community. That’s a monstrous amount of savings in taxpayer money.

Unfortunately, those savings may be slipping away.

When those six men began their firefighting career, Pennsylvania had 300,000 volunteer firemen and about 5,000 paid firemen. Today, in our state, there are roughly 50,000 volunteers and 20,000 paid firemen. The trend is clear.

Communities that once paid nothing or only for firefighting equipment, training and a building may soon be shelling out money for salaries and benefits for paid firefighters. It will not be a small amount. Ask communities with paid departments, some of which are in our area, how supporting a paid fire department has affected – or decimated – their budget.

Yet, unless something occurs to encourage men and woman to volunteer for firefighting, citizens throughout the state are about to see a huge bump in their taxes.

It’s still true, mind you, that every little boy and many girls dream of growing up to be a firefighter. We’ve all seen the sparkle in a youngster’s eyes when someone first lifts him or her into the front seat of a fire truck, we’ve witnessed their sense of pride when they dress up as a firefighter for Halloween and we’ve applauded their third-grade essays on why they want to become a firefighter.

Sadly, reality soon sets in.

Firefighting requires hundreds of hours of training, an amount of free time that just isn’t available to adults working multiple jobs, hauling their kids to sports activities and caring for their own parents. Many single adults prefer to spend their free time with recreational activities and friends when they aren’t working 12-hour days. Others are ultimately put off by the ever-present danger of the firefighting job.

But perhaps the biggest detriment today to becoming a fireman is the inability to find a job where the boss is willing to let you leave on a moment’s notice when the fire alarm sounds.

There’s no easy solution. Companies must meet production quotas with increasingly minimum staffs and no room for employees to leave their post unexpectedly. Parents desire to spend what free time they have with their families. Single people cherish their independent life style.

The five firemen being saluted this month will tell you that they sacrificed much by becoming a fireman. They will also tell you that, in the end, it was a worthy sacrifice. They served their community, they saved lives and they eventually developed an extended family with their fellow firemen.

Still, it’s not a job suited for everyone.

At the minimum, however, we need to individually and collectively promote the notion that firefighters are a necessary part of the fabric that creates the comforting quilt that is our American way of life.

It could all start with publicly offering five words to our five firefighters: Thank you for your service.