CHADBOURN, NC (WWAY) — North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey came to tour the Chadbourn Fire Department, and talk about the need for more firefighters.
“The number one issue with the volunteer fire departments are recruiting volunteers and retaining volunteers,” Causey said.
Causey believes not as many young people are volunteering because of modern day distractions. He says a good example is a fire that happened last week in Davidson county.
“Twelve hours into the fire, the chief at the volunteer fire department in Welcome, North Carolina was on television pleading for every available firefighter,” Causey said.
Causey says one possible solution is to educate children in schools about the need for fire fighters and implement a junior fire fighter training program. Another option is to create paid positions but Chadbourn Fire Chief Randy Guyton says that may not be possible for a town like theirs, which is home to less than two-thousand people.
“As many fire fighters as you have to have to fight structure fires and stuff, there’s nowhere near the financing to have paid staff around the clock,” Guyton said.
The chief believes the shortage could be due to people working extra jobs trying to make ends meet and just not having the time to volunteer.
