State leader visits Hibriten fire program
Junior firefighter programs, like
"Fire departments are really having a hard time recruiting volunteer firefighters," he said. "People today have so many choices of things to do, ... they don't feel that sense of community to take time and volunteer."
Causey said he hears from departments who lose 80 to 90 percent of their volunteer firefighters after a short time, so he travels the state commending programs like Hibriten's and encouraging counties without junior firefighter training programs to start them.
"If we don't get them right out of high school, we're not going to get them when they're 25 or 30," he said.
Students learning under Chief
Smith said his job is clear -- to provide the local fire departments with new recruits.
"My only job is to build firefighters," Smith said. "People aren't stepping up as much into public service."
"This program has been crucial to is as far as getting applicants," Hair said.
The program isn't just for volunteer firefighting, Causey said, it encourages students to volunteer even if they go into firefighting professionally.
"We see a large number of professional firefighters that are paid -- that's their careers -- then they volunteer at other departments," he said.
Causey also visited with
Reporter
___
(c)2018 the News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.)
Visit the News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) at http://www.newstopic.net/
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Remembering tornadoes past
Community news: City offers business insurance class
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News