The Numbers Don't Lie
When fire chiefs in South Jersey began publicly warning that staffing shortages could prevent them from responding to emergencies, it wasn't hyperbole. It was a data point in a national trend that has been accelerating for years—and one that most Americans still don't fully grasp.
The United States has roughly 200,000 fewer volunteer firefighters than it did a decade ago, representing approximately a 25% decline. In New York State alone, volunteer ranks dropped from 120,000 to about 80,000 in five years—a staggering 33% loss. Connecticut's volunteer firefighter population has shrunk 63% since 2016. These aren't projections. They're confirmed counts from state fire agencies and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC).
At the federal level, the U.S. Forest Service reported 5,100 unfilled positions—a 26% vacancy rate—across its wildland firefighting workforce. That gap means thousands of acres of federal land have fewer trained personnel available to fight fires during the increasingly dangerous wildfire seasons that climate patterns are delivering.
So what's really happening? And more importantly, who's paying attention?
Why the Pipeline Is Drying Up
The root causes are structural, not mysterious. Researchers and fire service leaders point to the same convergence of factors:
- Two-income households: In previous generations, one member of a household could volunteer during the day. That model has largely collapsed. Families need two incomes, and employers aren't always willing to release workers for emergency calls.
- Longer commutes: The suburbanization and exurbanization of the American workforce means fewer people live close to the volunteer stations that serve their communities. You can't respond to a fire call in your town if you work 45 minutes away.
- Higher training requirements: Becoming a volunteer firefighter today requires significantly more training hours than it did in the 1980s. Firefighter I certification alone requires 130 or more hours in most states. That's a serious time commitment for someone who isn't getting paid.
- Health risk awareness: Growing awareness of occupational cancer, PFAS exposure, cardiac risk, and mental health challenges has made the job less attractive to potential recruits who now understand the long-term costs of service.
None of these factors are going away. If anything, they're intensifying.
Following the Federal Money
Congress has not been entirely inactive. The SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant program was reauthorized in 2024 under Public Law 118-67. For fiscal year 2024, FEMA distributed $324 million in SAFER funding across 207 awards to fire departments nationwide. That money goes directly to hiring career firefighters and recruiting and retaining volunteers.
The NVFC has been advocating for $405 million in SAFER funding for FY2025, arguing that the current allocation doesn't match the scale of the problem. When you consider that a single career firefighter costs a municipality $70,000 to $120,000 annually in salary and benefits, $324 million doesn't stretch as far as the headline suggests.
It's worth noting what SAFER grants can and cannot do. They can help a department hire firefighters for a limited period. They can fund recruitment campaigns and retention programs. What they cannot do is fix the underlying economic and demographic forces that make volunteering harder than it used to be.
The Wildland Firefighter Gap
The federal wildland workforce faces its own distinct crisis. The U.S. Forest Service's 26% vacancy rate isn't just a staffing inconvenience. It means that during peak fire season, the country has roughly a quarter fewer federal wildland firefighters than its own staffing models call for.
For anyone considering a career in wildland firefighting, this gap represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Federal agencies are actively recruiting, pay reform legislation has been moving through Congress, and the work itself has never been more critical. Our wildland firefighter career guide breaks down qualification pathways, expected pay, and what daily life looks like on a hotshot crew or engine team.
The vacancy rate also has a compounding effect. When positions go unfilled, the remaining personnel absorb heavier workloads. Burnout accelerates. More people leave. The cycle feeds itself.
What This Means on the Ground
The consequences of the staffing shortage are not abstract. They show up in response times. They show up in the number of apparatus that roll on a structure fire. They show up in the mutual aid requests that strain neighboring departments.
In rural America, where roughly 65% of fire departments are staffed primarily by volunteers, the shortage is existential. Some departments can't field a crew on weekdays. Others are quietly reducing their service capabilities—no longer responding to certain call types, relying entirely on automatic mutual aid from departments that are themselves understaffed.
Career departments in mid-size cities aren't immune either. Forced overtime, constant minimum staffing battles, and difficulty filling recruit classes are reported coast to coast. The International Association of Fire Chiefs has flagged staffing as the number-one operational concern for its membership in multiple consecutive surveys.
The Ripple Effect on Response Times
National data consistently shows that volunteer-dependent areas experience longer response times on average. When a department can't staff an engine, the call rolls to the next closest resource. That adds minutes. In a cardiac arrest, a structure fire with occupants trapped, or a major vehicle accident, those minutes carry a measurable human cost.
For communities weighing whether to transition from volunteer to combination or all-career staffing, the math is brutal. Career staffing is expensive. But inadequate coverage is measured in lives.
The Opportunity Angle
Here's the part that gets less attention: for individuals considering a fire service career, this crisis represents unprecedented opportunity.
Departments across the country are hiring. Many have lowered age requirements, expanded lateral transfer programs, and increased starting salaries. Some are offering signing bonuses, housing assistance, and tuition reimbursement. The competition for qualified candidates is fierce—among departments, not among applicants.
If you've been considering whether to pursue firefighting, EMS, or a related public safety career, the timing has arguably never been better. Start with our comprehensive guide on how to become a firefighter, which walks through every step from application to academy. If you're preparing for a civil service exam, our firefighter exam practice quiz covers the question types you'll actually encounter.
The fire service also offers career paths beyond riding an engine. EMT and paramedic roles are in equally high demand. Fire inspection, investigation, code enforcement, dispatch—the full range of fire service careers is broader than most people realize, and nearly all of them are experiencing the same labor market dynamics.
What Departments Are Trying
Innovative departments aren't waiting for Congress. Some strategies gaining traction:
- Reduced-commitment volunteer programs: Instead of requiring volunteers to respond to all call types, some departments allow members to sign up for specific shifts or call categories. This lowers the barrier to participation.
- Live-in programs: College students live at the fire station rent-free in exchange for responding to calls during designated hours. It's a model that's worked for decades in some regions and is expanding to new areas.
- Explorer and cadet programs: Investing in the pipeline by recruiting teenagers and young adults into structured training programs before they age into the volunteer or career workforce.
- Regional consolidation: Neighboring departments sharing resources, cross-training personnel, and in some cases merging operations to maximize efficiency.
- Targeted recruitment: Departments are actively recruiting from communities that have been historically underrepresented in the fire service, recognizing that expanding the candidate pool is both an equity issue and a practical necessity.
The Question No One Wants to Ask
The uncomfortable reality is that some communities may not be able to sustain the level of fire protection they've had for generations. The volunteer model that built America's fire service—neighbor helping neighbor, funded by pancake breakfasts and bingo nights—is under unprecedented strain.
That doesn't mean it's dead. Volunteers still constitute the majority of America's firefighting force. But the trend line is unmistakable, and communities that ignore it are gambling with public safety.
The data is clear. The SAFER funding helps, but it's a tourniquet, not a cure. The real solutions will require structural changes in how communities fund, train, and support their fire departments—and how the nation values the people who run into burning buildings.
The shortage is real. The opportunity is real. The question is whether the response matches the scale of the problem.