Oktibbeha County’s District 5 Volunteer Fire Department will begin a four-year, grant-funded recruitment effort in January aimed at bolstering its ranks with permanent residents.
In October, the District 5 fire department Capt. Austin Check helped secure an almost $200,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security that will help pay volunteers for fuel costs and mileage they incur as they travel to training events, departmental meetings and emergency calls.
Those funds will also help produce advertising materials aimed at recruiting new volunteers for the department.
The fire department has about 30 people on its roster, but Check said he’s hopeful the recruitment drive can add an additional 20 members, including some who can progress to officer levels, in the next four years.
“What we’re trying to do is get more people — those that are permanent residents, specifically — involved in the fire service, because a lot of times we have younger college students that get trained and move off. That creates a gap for officers,” he said. “In a perfect world where we have more people on the roster, you don’t have to be available for every call. We have people with families, who take their kids to ball games or travel, and it’s hard to work emergencies in with everyone’s schedules.”
County volunteers
County volunteer firefighters differ from their full-time counterparts in Starkville. Those in the county work their own jobs and respond to emergency calls as they are available. Volunteers do not receive a salary for their service, and many are college students who are likely to move away once their stint in higher education concludes, Check and Oktibbeha County Fire Services Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan said.
“Sometimes when we have incidents during the day, we come up really short. Places like Adaton and Sturgis, nobody might be around because many of them are working somewhere else,” Rosenhan said.
While the fire department will use federal funds to entice new recruits in a specific campaign, the entire county fire service is always actively seeking new members, Rosenhan said.
Currently, Oktibbeha County has about 125 active volunteers spread between its seven departments and 14 fire stations, he said.
“I especially worry about how many people can respond to events during the holiday season since the bulk of our force is typically out or unavailable during Christmas. I sweat it until someone gets on the radio to acknowledge a page or says the fire truck is in motion,” Rosenhan said.
Volunteers needed
Officials are looking for men and women at least 18 years of age to join the service. Volunteers under 21 years old are not permitted to drive fire trucks or “engage in serious firefighting,” like entering burning buildings, Rosenhan said. Those old enough to do so must first receive training.
“The fire service isn’t just firefighting. A majority of our calls are medical in nature, but even at fires, there are other jobs to do: maintaining and disbursing equipment, checking air bottles, working the hoses,” he said. “We’ve got room for everybody, whether they want to squirt water, drive the truck or become a medical responder. We’ll get you trained and furnish the equipment. All we ask is that you attend training and department meetings and respond to calls.”
Officials typically place new recruits with the closest corresponding fire department depending on their location.
For more information about joining OCFS or D5VFD, email [email protected] or call Rosenhan at 662-435-0565.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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