Junior firefighter Carter Sutton gives two thumbs up after successfully putting on all of his turnout gear and air pack on Jan. 5. 2023, at the North Washington Volunteer Fire Department. Butler Eagle file photo

Who on Earth would volunteer to be awakened in the middle of a freezing January night or interrupted on Christmas to go risk their life at a burning building?

The answer is the scores of men and women in Butler County who sign up to protect their neighbors as volunteer firefighters.

Those individuals last week faced house fires on consecutive days; one being a burning porch that ignited a home Wednesday in Franklin Township, and another Thursday that saw flames cause the roof of a log home in Forward Township to collapse.

Both fires occurred during the workday, so it’s safe to say many of the firefighters who battled those blazes had to leave work to head to the fire station and suit up.

Younger firefighters today might be surprised to hear their older peers report that many volunteer departments had waiting lists in the 1970s of young people looking to join the fire department.

Today, teens are not flocking to the local fire hall to volunteer as they have in years gone by, whether it’s due to a plethora of activities that gobbles up their time, or they simply are not interested in fire services.

So volunteer fire departments are stretched to the max regarding personnel, and thanks to endless safety mandates from the state and federal government, finances also are an issue for many VFDs.

How long can our volunteer fire departments continue with these challenges?

Either young men and women will step up and join their local fire departments, or paid fire services funded through state and local tax money will become the norm in the future.

Nobody likes to think about the significant tax increases that would be necessary to pay round-the-clock firefighters and purchase gear and firetrucks, but unless more volunteers come forward, that may be where fire service is heading.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to the dilemma, but until we see how the issue shakes out, we can support our local fire departments with a donation or by encouraging our teenagers to consider joining up.

— PJG