Sep. 5—Decades ago, when Bryan Adams joined the Terrytown Volunteer Fire Department, the force had a roster of about 150 active, certified volunteers. Today, that number is closer to five, according to the department's president.
"There are no volunteers left," said Adams, a top aide to Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng. "It's a safety issue for both the public and the firefighters."
Terrytown is not alone. Across the country, the number of volunteer firefighters is on the decline, reaching a 40-year low in 2017, according to a survey from the National Volunteer Fire Council.
On the west bank of Jefferson Parish, the problem is particularly acute.
Unlike the east bank, which consolidated most of its fire services into one, full-time force decades ago, the west bank has 13 different volunteer fire departments.
"Nowadays, manpower has become an issue on the west bank," said Parish Council member Deano Bonano, himself a firefighter. "We're way below where we used to be."
Time-consuming training
Chief Gary Girard with the Bridge City Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 said his force has about 15 volunteers, of which only five are "young and active" enough to respond to fires. When Girard became chief two decades ago, he had triple that number.
The reasons for the decline are complex, but officials said part of the problem is that training requirements have become much more time-consuming. Rookie school for firefighters used to only take a weekend's worth of time, Girard said. Now, it takes three months and 200 hours of training to get certified.
"It's just hard now for volunteers to work this job, spend time with their family and meet the training requirements," Girard said.
Ineligible for state benefits
With the drop-off in help, some volunteer fire departments have used their tax dollars to hire full-time personnel. But retention has been a problem.
Because volunteer fire departments are run as non-profits, employees aren't eligible for state retirement benefits. Oftentimes, those workers will jump ship after they're trained to join a department where they can collect benefits.
"It's just a revolving door," Bonano said.
To address the manpower issues, the Jefferson Parish Council last month selected a consultant — McGrath Consulting Group, Inc. — to study what it would take to merge the west bank fire districts into one, full-time force that would be eligible for state retirement benefits.
The study will take about a year, Bonano said, and given that each of the six west bank fire prevention districts collect their own millage, any move toward consolidation would require a vote of the public.
The move would exclude the fire departments in Westwego and Gretna, which have their own departments, separate from the parish.
Consolidation, if it comes to pass, could lead to closing fire stations and mothballing duplicate pieces of equipment such as trucks, Bonano said. But the savings could go towards additional firefighters.
Chief Linton Duet, who heads up the volunteer fire department serving Lafitte, Barataria and Crown Point, said he'll reserve judgement on consolidation until gets more information on the "good, bad and ugly" of what it entails.
But, he said, "I just want to make sure my guys are protected."
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