Class aims to fix volunteer firefighter shortage in Hamilton County

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — According to emergency management officials, there is a shortage of volunteer firefighters in Hamilton County.

Volunteer firefighters in Hamilton County are busy.

“A lot of people do it because it is what they enjoy doing and they love saving lives. It is in their blood,” said Amy Maxwell, public information officer at Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management.

Departments here and across the country are seeing a shortage in volunteer firefighters.

“A lot of people have furthered their careers in getting paid to be a firefighter, but unfortunately with the county we have to provide fire service on a volunteer basis,” Maxwell said.

The Hamilton County Fire Training Division is offering a class for future volunteer firefighters.

“That will actually train them to be a certified volunteer firefighter, really a firefighter one. So they can either pursue a career at a volunteer agency or go through a basic academy,” Maxwell said.

Earlier this week a fire on Dolly Pond Road claimed the lives of two people.

“One death is one too many. We just try to educate the general public that they always need to be on their game, especially during the month of October this is fire prevention month,” Maxwell said.

Officials say in the fall and winter, there is usually an increase of fires.

“Mainly because a lot of people use additional heating sources. And a lot of people don’t remember that they need to be at least so many feet away from any kind of combustibles,” Maxwell said.

As for the future firefighters, they will wrap up their class in May.

“We are glad that we are able to provide this service for these volunteer agencies because if we didn’t have then they would have to go elsewhere, which would cost a lot of money per person,” Maxwell said.

The basic firefighter one class consists of 320 hours. From now until the end, they will meet, twice a week. For more information, click here.