Fire departments in Northeast Ohio struggle to staff up

Fire departments across Northeast Ohio are struggling to fill their ranks, puzzled by the lack of interest in firefighting as a career.

"I have yet to figure that out," Ohio State Firefighters' Association President Scott Skeldon said. "I've been involved in the fire service for 45 years, both as a volunteer and as a career firefighter, and I never in my dreams would have thought there'd be so many - especially in the career service - openings around the state."

Ten years ago, the Akron Fire Department would get more than a thousand applicants without even advertising the jobs. Now, the city of Akron’s Twitter feed is filled with reasons young people should become firefighters, one way the department is trying to engage new recruits, Lt. Tim Morrison said.

“It’s making a huge difference, and we’re getting very diverse applicants," Morrison said.

This is similar to what other departments in the region are facing. In Cleveland, the fire department used to receive thousands of applications only a decade ago, Chief Anthony Luke said. Now, only about 600 people apply. This is causing departments to be more intentional about how they approach recruiting.

"We never had to be really intentional, because people always wanted to take this test and always wanted to be a firefighter," Morrison said.

This intentionality is making Akron's fire department more diverse, Morrison said.

"Instead of just saying, 'Hey, we're going to recruit.' Who are we going to recruit for? Where are we going to go?," Morrison said. "And we can kind of take a look back at other tests and go: 'How did we do on this test? Did we get what we want? Do we have the numbers, and how do we get the numbers?'"

The Canton Fire Department, with 153 firefighters, is 50 short of being fully staffed. They’ve ramped up engagement in schools and have put their younger hires on the front lines of public engagement, Chief Steve Henderson said.

“When they see people their age doing the job, it is motivating," Henderson said.

This is similar to the approach Akron is taking. The department's social media campaign shows pictures of young recruits paired with testimonials on why they love being a firefighter.

"We all know once we get here that we love it," Morrison said. "It's just nice to get some of the newer people to get out there and say, 'Yeah, this is great.'"

Another possible solution may lie in vocational schools offering fire academy training.

"I'm involved in a vocational school, and they're popping up more and more," Skeldon said. "And we're trying to get interest in the younger community."

To Morrison, the key to recruitment is getting those interested in the department to shadow firefighters out in the field.

"It's almost like a real easy sales pitch," Morrison said. "If we can get them to do a ride along with us, it's in the bag. It's a piece of cake."

However, the staffing shortage is different in more rural areas. The Canton Township Fire Department has been dealing with staffing issues for four years, and it’s only getting worse, Chief Chris Smith said.

“For us, specifically, our ideal staffing level is seven people a day, and typically we’re only at that maybe 10 to 15% of the time," Smith said.

For Smith’s department, the main issue is pay. The fire department had a levy on the ballot to raise pay last November that failed by only 58 votes. They’re going to try again in May, but even then, fewer and fewer people are getting into the profession.

"That levy, it'll help us address our wages and add additional staffing," Smith said.

Since 2019, the Canton Township Fire Department has had a full-time staff turnover rate of 73%.

"It's all financial for these people right now, and we understand it," Smith said. "But also we have our limitations."

Departments who can raise pay for new recruits say it's a good tactic. Canton recently raised entry pay, and that's helped with recruitment, Henderson said. His department has experienced lower than usual retention rates as well as low recruitment.

"The fire service has become extremely competitive," Henderson said. "We've had several people leave in the last few years, even new hires that have left after working for a month. They got a job offer making more money."

Akron also has experienced firefighters leaving the department for higher paying positions, Morrison said.

"In Akron, we have other benefits that some of the suburbs don't," Morrison said. "We're a much busier fire department, with med units and fire trucks, where some of those suburbs, sure, they're going to probably make some more money, but they're not going to be busy. They're not going to be as efficient. They're not going to be as good as we are at our jobs."

Skeldon said he thinks the issue is lack of interest.

"To be quite honest, a lot of the younger generation is not looking into fire service as a career, like in the old days," Skeldon said.

This matches up with departments seeing increasingly lower numbers of interested applicants, even from just a decade ago. Smith thinks changes in certification also may be a barrier to young people becoming firefighters.

"They've increased the schooling needed to get certified, so the time constraints and the cost it takes to get certified is a drawback," Smith said.

Police departments also are having trouble filling their ranks across the nation. Could there be a resistance to working in public service jobs?

"We are seeing a new generation of individuals that have many more opportunities to earn a living through internet ventures and work-from-home possibilities that are many times more lucrative than public sector employment," Luke said.

But departments hope the changes they're making will break through the noise and convince young people to become firefighters.