A local committee is considering one option that could help alleviate the manpower shortage facing the area’s volunteer fire departments.

Organized last fall, the 12-member Occupations Advisory Committee, with emergency service representatives from McKean and Potter counties, has been meeting with the goal of revitalizing emergency services by having appropriate courses taught at the Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit 9 Career and Technical Center in Port Allegany. Smethport Fire Department President Dana Spittler and McKean County Commissioner Carol Duffy are co-chairs.

Firefighting would be just one of the courses proposed for the Homeland Security curriculum. The others are criminal justice and emergency medical technician classes.

Noting that many of the CTC graduates find employment in this area, spittle said, “The objective of this curriculum is to prepare our youth to fill the void from aging members of the fire and other emergency services, as well as preparing the younger generation for employment in the real world.”

Volunteers remain the foundation of America’s rural fire and emergency services, but they are encountering challenges of recruiting and retaining members, as well as facing ever-increasing costs.

Emergency services have been facing the problem of fewer volunteers for years, but the current situation is now even more critical since firefighters are needed the most due to the rising number of calls and increased training requirements. Fewer volunteers increases the response times when every second counts.

This ever-increasing need for volunteers is especially dire in rural areas where workers are forced to commute longer distances to their jobs, reducing their time for volunteering training. “Just because volunteer firemen answer the calls, many people don’t realize there is a serious shortage of volunteer firefighters. Such is certainly not the case.”

Nationwide, the number of volunteer and paid firefighters is down 12 percent since 1984, as reported by the National Volunteer Firefighter Council.

Add to this the fact that the percentage of firefighters over the age of 50 serving small communities has increased between eight to 15 percent, while the percentage of those under the age of 30 has decreased between three and six percent, and one soon realizes the enormity of the problem.

Rural communities can’t afford to lose volunteer fire and emergency services, which save taxpayers billions of dollars annually.

To help ease the impact of the dwindling number of volunteers, many fire departments are now admitting women who train and serve alongside the men.

Earlier this year, Spittler proposed the idea of adding firefighting and emergency services to the CTC curriculum. By selecting this Homeland Security course of study, students in grades 10-12 could earn three credits while meeting the required 188 hours of instruction with the Delmar firefighting curriculum.

Through the combination of classroom and hands-on experiences, the students would develop the skills needed for service in the fire departments.

While there is currently no available space for additional classes at the CTC, James Young, CTC director, said this type of program could be delivered at satellite locations in communities.

Spittler said after he presented this idea to Young, the CTCV director laid out a plan of action that recommended the first step would be to establish an Occupations Advisory Committee.

Young, who is a committee member, sees his role as facilitator with responsibility of program development to make sure the curriculum is developed according to CTC guidelines. “We’re always looking at how the CTC education can be aligned with the business community,” Young said.  “It comes down to where are the jobs?”

Young has presented this proposal to the IU9 Superintendents Advisory Council, which is composed of the 14 chief school administrators in the educational agency’s administrative area of McKean, Cameron, Elk and Potter counties, and that group offered their support.

Program development is still in the early stages and is expected to continue through the winter and into the spring. According to Young, “Once the Pennsylvania Department of Education approves the curriculum and it’s actually implemented, then some state funding could be available.”

“Community support is really imperative right now, Spittler told The Era. He and Duffy have explained this proposal to various municipalities, requesting officials to budget allocations of $2,000 annually in start-up funding for five years to sustain program commitment.