FARMINGTON, Minn. — Communities across the country are struggling to staff their fire departments.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the number of volunteer firefighters in the U.S. hit a low-water mark in 2020, the lowest it's been in nearly three decades.
As for what that means for Minnesota, more than 96% of fire departments in the state are volunteer or mostly volunteer-staffed. This means not even 4% of departments have employees that call firefighting their full-time jobs.
This problem is not new: KARE 11 did a story on Oakdale's struggle to find volunteer firefighters back in 2019. At that time the chief shared a number of factors leading to the shortage including a large time commitment, increasing danger that includes rising cancer rates among firefighters and a spike in post-traumatic stress disorder.
Farmington Fire Chief Justin Elvestad said that fire stations around the state have struggled to recruit for these roles. In Farmington's case, they're aiming to hire about 10 paid on-call firefighters.
"It's a very important job. It's people you know, it's your friends, it's your family," Elvestad said. "So it's really rewarding to be able to do that, especially in the community that you live in."
He added that people with flexible jobs or work-from-home positions are perfect for the role.
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