Feedback: Volunteer Firefighters Getting Burned By Gas Prices

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The number of volunteers responding to local emergencies is dwindling and local volunteer fire departments blame high gas prices.

With those prices nearing $4 per gallon, volunteers are strapped for cash.

For Scott Kron, volunteering with the Hammond Fire Department has been a decade-long commitment.

However, that commitment has gotten tougher.

“Gas keeps going up, they’re going to have fewer and fewer EMTs being able to run calls,” Kron said.

Volunteers often have to drive their own cars to the scene.

In rural areas like Hammond, that scene could be 15 miles away or further.

Not only do volunteers respond to calls and provide mutual aid, they also have to go to required training, pay for the gas to get there, and in Hammond’s case, that is in Canton and Potsdam.

The volunteer ranks are dwindling.

Hammond is down two people right now.

A few years ago there was a two year waiting list to join.

“It’s diminishing. The volunteers are just falling apart,” said Kron.

This year volunteers got a $200 state credit, but Kron points out the obvious - it’s not nearly enough.

“That covers a tank and a half of gas and that’s a week’s driving,” he said.

Kron says if gas prices don’t come down soon, people could one day end up paying for every emergency call and waiting a lot longer for a response.

See Andrea Friedman’s report:

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