WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderArea fire departments find it difficult to find volunteers

Area fire departments find it difficult to find volunteers

By Katie Nilsson

ROCKFORD (WREX) - Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey considers the idea of making the city's fire department partly volunteer.  Mayor Morrissey brought up the idea in his "State of the City" address last week.  The main purpose: to save on both personnel and pension costs.

Blackhawk Fire Chief Harry Tallacksen has fought fires for almost 40 years.  He's been the head of his department for the last 11 years.  While the fire department is his only job now, it wasn't always that way.  He also worked full time at Woodward Governor.  He says with the demands of the fire service now, finding and keeping volunteers is a challenge.  "There are certain training requirements you have to meet and you have to be willing to use your free time to come down and respond to calls that also causes some people to drop away because they just don't want to put that time in."

Cherry Valley's department used to be all volunteer until 2005.  Village voters approved a tax increase to allow the department to hire 12 full time firefighters, but it still has about 40 volunteers who also run calls.  Chief Craig Wilt says, "Our call volume increased to the point that our volunteers could no longer keep up with it strictly volunteer."

Chief Wilt adds that it's still hard to find volunteers especially with all the demands of the job.  He can't imagine a city the size of Rockford doing what Cherry Valley does.  "I wish them a lot of luck there because I don't think that a city that size and the call volume they have, I don't know how they could do that."

The Cherry Valley Fire Protection District covers about 30,000 people.  More than 150,000 live in the City of Rockford.   Mayor Morrissey wasn't available to talk with us about this idea Monday.