Volunteers are needed to make sure that Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad can continue to provide the services the community needs.

GVFRS Chief J.D. Clements said that, while the squad has 150 members, there has been “a slow, progressive reduction” in the number of calls they’re able to respond to, especially rescue calls. Functionally, only about 10 people handle all the rescue calls, with five of them carrying “the biggest part of the load,” he said. On the fire side, there are “maybe 25 who run the bulk of the calls.”

Just three members who are part of the daytime paid duty crew at Station 1—James Young, Robert Fox and W.L. Johnston—run a large number of the EMS calls the squad handles, he said.

“People have gotten older and have so many other things going on, especially with school-age children and athletics,” he said. “We have very few people to respond.”

On top of that, he said, there are fewer people working in the immediate area of Gloucester Court House who are available to respond.

In January, the Emergency Medical Services side of the squad handled 236 calls, said Clements, and last November, there were 17 calls in just one eight-hour shift. Last month, the duty crew had been running all day when an accident occurred that had two critical patients and another one who needed transport. One of the critical patients died on the way to the hospital.

“The stress associated with these calls wears on people,” he said.

Nevertheless, added Clements, the squad is made up of people who “have it in their heart and want to do it.”

Years ago, GVFRS was an all-volunteer force, but it became increasingly difficult to find people to respond during daytime hours, so the squad began paying its daytime duty crew. Now, there are typically two paid EMS teams on duty from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. But even though they’re paying people, said Clements, there are times when there’s only one Advanced Life Support provider on duty to switch between both teams.

Volunteers still handle all the fire calls, along with the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. EMS shift and weekends. But even then, paid personnel are often called on to put on their volunteer hats when they’re needed.

Clements said the most critical times of the day for manpower are when people are going to and coming back home from work. Volunteers with paid jobs can’t take a chance on responding to a call if it might make them late for work, while people getting off work might not have gotten back yet.

“We have very limited manpower then,” he said. “But when the chips are down, it seems like we have just enough to get the job done.”
While the squad hasn’t yet had a call where lack of manpower impacted the situation, said Clements, “the potential is there for it to happen.”

What’s the problem?

The main reason it’s getting harder to get volunteers, especially on the EMS side of the squad, said Clements, is that training requirements take a tremendous amount of time, both during initial training and in ongoing training required to maintain certification.

Four new people who recently completed an EMT class were presented for membership at this month’s meeting and are expected to be accepted during the March meeting, said Clements, but it will be months before they’ll be able to handle calls on their own. And a trained, experienced firefighter recently joined the squad, he said, “but we don’t get that opportunity often.”

There are vacancies in the squad’s Fire Cadet and Junior EMS programs, said Clements, and both programs have been slow to fill up. One cadet recently moved up to full membership, he said, “but we don’t have a volume of replacements waiting.”

Clements said the squad has begun making efforts to recognize the people who are running heavy call volumes to let them know they’re appreciated, and he hopes the increased recognition will also attract more people.

What if no one volunteers?

Gloucester County taxpayers currently contribute less than $3 million annually toward fire and rescue costs, said Clements. If the squad were to have to go completely paid because of a lack of volunteers, it would cost the county somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 million to $15 million a year.

“But even if (the county) chose to go career, where would they get the people?” asked Clements.

The problem Gloucester has isn’t limited to just one county, he said. It’s a nationwide problem, in which “career departments can’t fill the spots they’ve got.”

“EMS and firefighting are both hard work,” said Clements.

With all the difficulty finding personnel, GVFRS has changed one of its longstanding policies, he said. In the past, both duty crew members serving on an ambulance had to be trained EMTs. Now, he said, “we’ve had to soften that stance,” and the squad has begun accepting drivers with no EMS training.

Still, a driver needs to pass a state-mandated Emergency Vehicle Operators Course (EVOC) and be “reasonably fit and able to lift and respond to calls all hours of the day and night,” he said.

Basic requirements for volunteering with Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad include being at least 18 years of age, having no criminal record, and having a clean driving record. Fire Cadet and Junior EMS members must be at least 16 years of age.

Additional requirements are listed online at gvfrs.org/join, along with an application for membership.

For more information, call 804-693-2148 or visit gvfrs.org.