Everyone is encouraged to equip homes and businesses with detectors that emit an early warning signal that smoke is rising and a fire may be kindling.
But what if the detector sounds, 911 is called and no firefighters respond?
It’s a more likely scenario with each passing decade. During the past 40 years, the number of volunteer firefighters across Pennsylvania has plummeted from 300,000 to 38,000.
It’s being called “a public safety crisis” by a specially empaneled state commission.
This is not news to first responders. Long have local fire chiefs wondered when the whistle blows at noon, will anyone be available? Often, firefighters from nearby stations are signaled in for support. Some fire stations even had to be shuttered. Penn Hills closed one of its stations in 2017 for lack of volunteers to properly man it. The slack was picked up by the municipality’s remaining stations. But, at some point, there will be no more slack. The tightened fabric will rip.