As he pulls up to late night fire calls, Bill Weimer looks around and where he used to have 12 brothers by his side ready to put their lives on the line, he might only have five now.
For Weimer, and so many other volunteer chiefs, this is now commonplace and something they have, begrudgingly, learned to deal with as volunteer firefighter numbers continue to decline.
“Volunteerism is dying, there is not a doubt in mind, and that’s all over. The hard part is what’s that next step? How do we get other generations to come in? Is it technology? Is it t-shirts? I don’t know,” said Weimer, chief of Coolbaugh Township Volunteer Fire Company.
Even in the state where Benjamin Franklin created the first fire company and where 90 percent of the companies are strictly volunteer, the nationwide shortage on volunteers is having a notable impact.