ROANOKE COUNTY (WSLS 10)-- After a historically low year for recruitment led to volunteer firefighter staffing issues, the Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department will soon have more firefighters.
The department held a major recruitment campaign in July, looking for at least 15 new volunteers. They say thanks to stories on WSLS 10, they were able to get the people they needed.
The department didn't quite reach its initial goal of 15 new recruits, but they did get 12 applications-- which is more than enough to solve those staffing issues. The problems came as several volunteers left the department and not enough new people volunteered.
Earlier this week, the department reported that 7 people had applied. Then on Monday night, 5 more volunteers were approved-- bringing the final applicant count to 12.
Chief John Chambliss says there's a good mix of applicants, ranging in age from 16 to their mid-40s. With six volunteer teams in rotation, all of those new recruits will help keep those teams fully staffed.
"We have to have a minimum of three people to staff the truck," says Chief Chambliss. "If we ended up with six new recruits, that would be one more person per duty team. That takes a little of the pressure off-- if someone has to work 15 minutes over at work, someone is still there to get the truck on the road in that critical time."
He says the new recruits are often really excited to be volunteering, so some will work more than one night a week, which will help with staffing even more.
With additional volunteer firefighters on staff, the response time in an emergency won't increase as many feared would happen. For the 45,000 homes and businesses in the Cave Spring region, the response could be even better with a second truck arriving faster than it did before.
"If you have two teams that are in the station that night or six people in the station, perhaps we can get both of those trucks there in a quicker time," says Chief Chambliss. "That really is ideal."
Once the applicants are given background checks and physicals, they'll being training at the firefighter academy in September. They'll have training twice a week and several weekends a month until February. Chief Chambliss says the process takes several months because they have so much to learn.
"Whether it's a high-rise building or an office building, a brush fire, forest fire or mountainside fire," says Chief Chambliss. "Even with storm damage-- there are just a lot of things you can get involved with. There's never a dull moment."
He says the recruitment process is never over. Just because the major campaign has ended, doesn't mean that more volunteers can't apply. If you're interested in applying, contact the Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department.