Southwest Greensburg VFD turns to federal grant to attract new volunteers

Southwest Greensburg Fire Department’s Deputy Fire Chief Ed Milliron can remember when he first joined the volunteer fire department in 1982, and the fire whistle went off “you’d literally see about 40 people pouring out of their houses running to the fire station.”

Times have changed, according to fire Chief Bill Wright.

The fire department that protects the one-half mile by one-half mile borough with a population of just over 2,000 people now has “about 30 active” firefighters, some whom don’t live in the municipality.

Responding to more than 1,000 calls a year as a joint responder to incidents in neighboring Greensburg and Hempfield is taxing on those limited volunteers, he said.

“We can use more firefighters,” Wright said.

To bolster recruitment efforts, last year the department applied for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant under the agency’s Staffing for Adequate Fire And Emergency Response program. It was awarded $405,590 and the department designated a portion, $90,000, towards recruiting new firefighters.

This month, the department launched a comprehensive four-year volunteer recruitment campaign. It hired a marketing firm, Communication Solutions Group Inc., a full-service public relations and marketing firm based in Jenkintown.

Wright said the company successfully ran numerous recruitment and retention campaigns for fire and rescue organizations.

“We’re firefighters … not experienced at these kind of things. We have training we’re mandated to do and are busy fundraising, too,” Wright said.

“So we decided to hire a company with experience, and it’s paid through the grant,” he said.

Firefighters picked a slogan for the campaign, “Train With Pride. Protect With Honor.”

The extensive recruitment program will include an increased social media presence, targeted residential mailings, ad plan development, a recruitment video and a college live-in program.

The Southwest Greensburg department isn’t the first area department to seek the a federal grant and the assistance of a marketing firm to help with recruiting firefighters.

Last month, area firefighters announced a $4.3 million FEMA grant received in 2017, administered by Hempfield to 60 of the county’s 83 fire departments, resulted in more than more than 470 new volunteer firefighter recruits over the four-year recruitment period. The goal was 300 volunteers.

But for many smaller departments in the county and across the state, recruiting fire departments remains a huge and difficult task.

Bell Township Volunteer Fire Chief Steve Master lamented that volunteer department has “29 members in the books, but just 15 are actually active.”

“We’d love to have some new recruits, and anyone who is interested can certainly contact us. But people today, between work and things, just don’t seem to have the time to dedicate and it’s a shame,” Master said.

According to the National Volunteer Fire Council and the state Department of Community and Economic Development, the number of firefighters in Pennsylvania is estimated to be between 36,000 and 38,000. The state does not require fire departments to report the number of volunteers.

The number of volunteer firefighters is an estimated 30,000. In 1975, that number was 360,000, the NVFC and DCED said.

In its recruitment push, Southwest Greensburg leans on existing younger volunteers like Kara Shafron to promote the department.

“I have personally benefited from volunteering by learning how to push myself both physically and mentally,” Shafron said.

“Volunteering is a fun and exciting way to give back to the community, and it helps you see what you are actually capable of,” she added.

Anyone interested in learning more about Southwest’s fire department program can visit SWGreensburgFirefighter.org.