By Christine Graf
If your house is on fire, there’s a good chance that the firefighters who respond to the call are volunteers. Approximately 65 percent of the country’s more than one million firefighters volunteer their time, and only about 10,000 of the 29,000 fire departments in the United States are staffed by professional firefighters.
In New York where nearly half of the state’s population is served by volunteer firefighters, the number of volunteers has dropped 32 percent since the 1990s. During that same time period, calls for service have increased 29 percent. These calls include fires, vehicle accidents, medical emergencies, hazardous material spills, water rescues, and weather-related rescue operations.
With the exception of the Saratoga Springs Fire Department, all departments in Saratoga County are operated by volunteers.
According to Round Lake Fire Department Captain and Public Information Officer Joe Plewinski, local departments are struggling to attract volunteers. A principal engineer at General Electric Power Systems, Plewinski joined the department in 1996. For him, it was the fulfillment of a childhood dream.