When it comes to volunteers, some fire departments around the state are scrambling to find help. Lincoln Fire Protection district chief Pat Goodwin says it's not detrimental yet but in the future it could be a serious problem. The Illinois Fire Chief's Association says small communities throughout Illinois are struggling on recruiting and retaining volunteers at their local fire stations. Lincoln Fire Chief Pat Goodwin says he thinks the reason the number of volunteers is down is because they can't find time in their busy schedules. Goodwin said, ""Fifteen, twenty years ago we had the farmers, we had the family members that volunteered to support their community. Now we've come to a society where we're busy. Between traveling teams that we used to never have the kid's activities working two jobs. People just aren't having the time to dedicate to volunteer to the local fire departments." Goodwin says Lincoln Fire has three stations in Coles County that responded to 350 calls in the past year, with the majority of them medical related. He says in all the protection district has about 100 volunteers. Goodwin said,"So everybody gets a call and everybody on the roster that can respond goes. Some go to the scene, some come to the station to get the equipment, it's just who's available and who can respond at that time." Eastern Illinois University student Will Giroux wanted to help and just recently became a volunteer. Giroux said, "I guess over the summer I started seeing that I enjoyed helping people a lot. That was my ultimate goal to help people and so I kind of just looked at different things with that and all of a sudden I'm like I want to be a firefighter." He says volunteering his time at Lincoln Fire is something to help his career in the future and to give back to the community. Giroux said, "One of the questions I got asked when I got interviewed was are you doing this to wear the fire department t-shirt and no I generally just want to give back to the Charleston and Cole's County area. I've been here for three years now and it's given so much to me so I want to give back in little things that I can do." Goodwin says if you're 18 or older and physically fit you're qualified to volunteer. He says to contact your local volunteer fire stations to learn more about joining.
Older Articles Newer Articles