Everyone who lives in a small rural community knows the sound of the fire hall siren, the urgent wail that calls firefighters to their duty.

But what would happen if no one responded to that call?

With the county’s all-volunteer fire departments struggling to attract personnel, that’s a question that may be answered all too soon.

And it’s not strictly a local concern. Nationwide over the past 40 years, reports the National Volunteer Fire Council, the number of volunteer firefighters has dropped by a quarter-million.

Still, Grant County faces challenges many other places don’t.

First, the county’s population, small to begin with — some 7,337, according to the latest estimate from the Population Research Center at Portland State University — also is dwindling: Between 2010 and 2020, it was one of only three Oregon counties to lose residents.

Second, many in the county are elderly: 31.4%, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated recently, are 65 and older.

Last, many of the county’s volunteer firefighters work “day jobs” as professional wildland firefighters and, during fire season, are out of the area and unable to respond to local calls.

In recent weeks, representatives of several county fire departments spoke with the Eagle to provide an overview of their operations and their perspectives on the challenges they face.

‘We’re lifesavers’

As are many of his fellow volunteers, John Day firefighter Ron Phillips, 71, is carrying on a family tradition.

“My dad, Stan Phillips, was fire chief here for 25 years,” he says. “I originally joined in 1968. We had 18 to 20 firefighters then.”

Over the next two decades, Phillips rose to the rank of first assistant chief. He moved to California in 1987, returned to John Day in 2013 and, he says, “reaffiliated with the department right after the Canyon Creek Complex Fire” two years later.

Today in John Day, says Phillips, “we have about 10 active firefighters.” And they stay busy: “We’ve been running about 60 calls a year.” As well as fight fire, “we go on medical calls if the ambulance crew requests us.”

What would be an ideal complement of firefighters for the department?

“Twenty,” says Phillips, “because we serve not only the city but also a rural district which runs from Laycock Creek to Pine Creek to about 15 miles south (of John Day).”

Philips discussed the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division’s administrative order that requires a minimum of four firefighters on any structure fire: two who enter the structure together and remain in visual or voice contact with one another at all times, and two who remain outside.

“The two-in, two-out rule — we can’t do that,” Phillips states flatly. “We don’t have the manpower.”

“The fire department means a lot to me,” says Phillips. “We’re lifesavers. That’s our business. And I ask people constantly about joining. But I have not had very good luck.”

‘Not getting the new people’

In November 1968, 16-year-old Marvin Rynearson joined the Prairie City Fire Department. Today, at 69, he’s the chief.

“We’re a family,” explains Rynearson. “We have to be. The guy sitting next to you in the truck going to a fire may save your life today. And you may save his. You have to be able to trust each other.”

Rynearson entered the department via a mentoring program that, he says, exists to this day.

At the time, “we had a core of 10 or 12 of about 25 on the roster. The majority of the 50-plus years I’ve been involved, we’ve hovered between 15 and 25.”

Today, “we have 15” — some 10 of whom are active, he says — and they respond to “anywhere from 15 to 21 calls a year.”

Rynearson is blunt: “We’re not getting the new people in. I could absolutely handle five newbies every six months for the next two years. I’d love to see 25 to 30 physically fit individuals in this department.”

Even high-schoolers are welcome, he says: “We can bring them on board at 16. At that age, they can’t drive the apparatus to the scene, can’t be involved with a live fire. But between the ages of 16 and 18 they can assist — pull hose, hook up hydrants, pump water.”

In years past, says Rynearson, departments from Grant and Harney counties collaborated to host an annual, three-weekend academy to introduce new recruits to the basics of firefighting.

“We’d bring in qualified instructors from DPSST (the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training) or the local fire departments,” he explained.

“But we haven’t been able to hold it the last couple of years. We need five trainees to make it worthwhile enough to bring in instructors and provide the necessary stuff. But last year I think they had three that signed up for it, and this year four. So they canceled it.”

‘Always room for more’

Last month Justin May, 41, a 20-year veteran of the Mt. Vernon Fire Department, assumed the job of chief. Occupationally, May’s background is typical of many department volunteers: He was a professional wildland firefighter for Grayback Forestry for 21 years.

The department’s roster, May notes, numbers around 17; “getting below a dozen active would be a crisis.”

But, May emphasizes, roster size doesn’t tell the whole story. The Mt. Vernon force, he says, counts among its volunteers “law-enforcement officers, people who work for the phone company, people who work in the woods, who fight wildfire professionally” — volunteers, in other words, whose work obligations or frequent absences from the area render them unable to answer every call.

On any given alarm, “sometimes we’re lucky to get five” to respond, says May. “So it’s more than how many you may have on the roster — it’s how many are available.”

Because of this, he says, “I don’t think you can ever be full.” From 16-year-old novices to those “too broken down to put a pack on, there’s always room for more. There’s always something that needs doing — directing traffic, moving gear, assessing water damage, refilling tanks.”

The county’s fire departments, says May, operate under a mutual aid agreement: If, on a given call, a department in one jurisdiction finds it needs help, it can summon others to the scene immediately.

“We’ve all been on each other’s fires,” explains May. “Everyone’s helped everybody. If I get a fire, say, out in our rural district, where I have no hydrants and need water support, I’m going to call for mutual aid instantly — the second I get on scene. We don’t take chances.”

‘Five or six hats’

Don Porter, 63, has served on the Long Creek Fire Department for more than 25 years and been its chief since 2005. His wife, Denise Porter, 55, is the department’s training and safety officer.

“The size of the force fluctuates,” says Don, who also serves as Long Creek’s mayor. “We have nine now. Since COVID, there’s been a little decline. But all the way through 2019, we were (holding) our own. We’d gain one or two, then we’d lose one or two, because people move.”

The ideal roster size? “Nine or ten fully trained,” says Denise, “who are here and available.”

Of the force’s current volunteers, offers Denise, “two are young moms who don’t often get to meetings as they’re pregnant or have just had kids.” Three, estimates Don, are 60 or older, including the department’s certified fire chaplain, Ed Studtmann, pastor of Long Creek’s New Life Bible Church.

Per year, says Don, the department averages three fire calls and more than a dozen ambulance calls.

“Two of our firefighters are also emergency medical technicians,” adds Denise.

“We meet on Wednesday nights at 6 o’clock,” says Don. “We go through our gear, make sure our trucks are running, make sure everything works.”

Given his department’s small size, he says, “we all wear five or six hats.”

Deterrents to service

Why do so many volunteer fire departments struggle to recruit and retain personnel? A recent National Volunteer Fire Council study suggests some reasons. Leading the list: Time demands and increased training requirements.

As well as attend weekly meetings, volunteer firefighters undergo extensive training. Among the subjects: how to extinguish structure fires and wildfires, extricate injured people from damaged vehicles, apply first aid, deal with hazardous materials and undertake search and rescue operations.

To maintain the basic certification for firefighters established by the DPSST, a volunteer needs “in the neighborhood of 70 to 78 hours of training a year,” says Phillips.

“It’s pretty difficult to get people to make that kind of commitment,” adds Rynearson, especially those who have families to look after.

Other deterrents to service, maintains the National Volunteer Fire Council, include a “loss of community feeling” coupled with a “me generation” ethic.

About these, Phillips doe snot mince words.

“Many kids today have an awful lot handed to them,” he says. “Most of them, if they can’t do something on their cellphones, they don’t want to do it. They’ve forgotten all about community service.”

“It seems like it’s been more difficult since the rise of the internet and hand-held devices,” agrees Rynearson. “People don’t want to come out. They have their entertainment at home. They’re not social.”

Another: mandatory drug testing.

“I have people come through the door and I hand them an application and tell them, ‘Before I can bring you on board, I’ll require a drug test,’” explains Rynearson. “And one out of five run from that.”

Perhaps the greatest deterrent , however, is more elemental.

“A lot of people have a real fear of fire,” says Phillips. “Some people are willing to run toward a fire, and some want to run away from it.”

Tax credits and ‘junior firefighters’

Many factors, then, mitigate against service as a volunteer firefighter. What might persuade more people to take the plunge?

In the current session of the Legislature, Sen. Fred Girod of Stayton and Rep. Jami Cate of Lebanon have introduced bills to provide a $1,000-a-year state income tax credit to volunteer firefighters who participate in 60 or more hours of yearly firefighter training, respond to 10% or more of their department’s calls for assistance or meet other criteria.

If enacted into law, Cate says, the legislation will “alleviate some of the recruitment and retention challenges our volunteer-dependent fire stations face” and “serve as a small way of saying ‘thank you’ for the effort and sacrifice of our volunteers.”

The National Volunteer Fire Council — of which the Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association is an affiliate — offers departments resources to start or expand local chapters of its National Junior Firefighter Program.

“It is crucial to attract people into the emergency services while they are young so that they form a lifelong connection,” maintains the council.

And for many young adults, service to others remains a primary motivation.

“We help people during their worst times,” says Zachary Shoop, 18, a John Day volunteer firefighter since December of last year. “If people are interested in giving back to the community and helping those who need it most, they should get involved.”

In the end, that’s what it all comes down to. Either people will choose to get involved, or they won’t. Whatever they decide, their choices will affect the future of the fire service in Grant County.

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of Grant County,” sums up Rynearson. “Without them, there’s no way we could afford fire departments.”

Fire departments throughout Grant County are struggling to maintain adequate levels of volunteers. If you’d like to help in some capacity, contact your local fire department:

Canyon City

123 S. Washington St.

(541) 575-0509

Dayville

2 Park Lane

(541) 987-2188

John Day

316 S. Canyon Blvd.

(541) 620-4037

Long Creek

250 Hardisty St.

(541) 421-3601

Monument

291 Main St.

(541) 934-2025

Mt. Vernon

472 Council Drive

(541) 932-4688

Prairie City

142 SW Kilbourne St.

(541) 820-3605