CARLSBORG — Twenty-three new firefighters will pump up volunteer rolls, but they probably will fall short of the manpower North Olympic Peninsula officials say they need.
Having completed firefighter training at the Volunteer Training Academy in Carlsborg, the new recruits soon will start filling volunteer shortages in Clallam districts 2, 3 and 4, and the Port Angeles Fire Department.
Nine will go to District 2 — which covers areas immediately outside Port Angeles — 11 to District 3 in Sequim, two to the Port Angeles Fire Department and one to District 4 in Joyce.
“With a total of 23 graduating firefighters, this was one of, if not the, largest firefighter academy” in Clallam County, said Chief Sam Phillips of Fire District 2.
A badge-pinning ceremony is planned for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Dry Creek Fire Station, 700 Power Plant Road, Port Angeles.
Family and friends and other interested members of the public are invited to attend as the new firefighters receive uniforms and badges. Light refreshments will be served.
Of the 30 trainees who started the academy in early January, 23 completed it, according to Assistant Chief Dan Orr of District 3, which hosted the academy.
A few dropped out after the first week.
The training was a “huge commitment,” Orr said.
He suggested the new recruits might have underestimated how much time they would have to spend in academy sessions, which were on Wednesday and Friday evenings plus Saturdays for three months.
“We learned a lot about working with volunteers this time,” said Orr. “We need to do a better job of retaining them.”
Attracting, training and retaining volunteers is always a problem, he said.
This particular academy was run at nights and on weekends to address the availability of adult volunteers.
Some were very young, according to Orr, while he described others as “more seasoned.”
He expects that District 3 will run the academy again next January.
Phillips said the new recruits will help matters in District 2, but won’t solve the manpower shortage his district faces.
Even with nine new volunteers, Phillips said the department will be short some 11 to 15 firefighters.
Phillips credits the size of this fire academy class to recruitment efforts made possible by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, which runs through 2017, is being used for an aggressive recruitment campaign that has included lawn signs, store window fliers, newspaper and broadcast advertising and a billboard.
It also helps pay for the recruits’ turnout gear, uniforms and training expenses.
“We’re still looking,” said Phillips, and still accepting volunteer applications.
Part of the challenge of volunteer retention is finding “what is right for the individual” and “what makes their heart sing,” Orr said.
During the academy, Orr noticed that many recruits faced personal challenges that were opportunities for growth.
In particular, he saw some claustrophobic recruits struggle with wearing the firefighter breathing equipment for the first time.
Others had difficulty with heights — climbing ladders or moving about on a building roof.
“There is a lot of personal growth that goes on,” he said. “We push them a little bit. The academy is good at that.”
With the academy behind them, the new firefighters face not only more advanced ongoing training but opportunities to put their skills to work, Phillips said.
District 2 responds to many different kinds of calls — from pumping out flooded basements to fires to hazardous material spills, all of which requires training, he said.
In the past week, District 2 has responded to two gas station fuel spills that required skilled cleanup, he noted.
The district also prefers its firefighters complete the emergency medical technician course at Peninsula College so that they can respond to both fire or rescue and medical calls, said the chief.
District 2 funds its volunteers’ tuition with the SAFER grant and a new group just started emergency medical technician training earlier this month.
In District 3, new firefighters “start at the bottom,” Orr said. Still, they get plenty of hands-on experience with what he called technical rescue.
“We’re very impressed with all of them,” he added, noting that five women were among the academy graduates.
In the West End, Chief Bill Paul has said that District 1 in Forks and Beaver faces the same kind of recruitment and retention problems as elsewhere in the county, but it does not take part in the Carlsborg academy because it is so far away.
The department does the Firefighter 1 training in-house when volunteers come in.
Paul generally finds that it is easier to get volunteers to respond to calls in the evening than during the day, when most are at work or school.
In Jefferson County, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue runs its own Firefighter 1 academy for two volunteer tracks — resident volunteer and regular volunteer.
Resident volunteers work with paid staffers an average of 2.5 days a week, often as second jobs, and receive a stipend.
Long-term, Orr said recruitment and retention efforts need to be a “constant thing” that “should run in the background” for all agencies working with volunteers.
“There are so many ways people can make their communities better,” said Orr. “This is a great way.”
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Assistant Managing Editor Mark Swanson can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55450, or mswanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
