Volunteer firefighter numbers have declined across the U.S. In Blacksburg, college students help fill the ranks.

Last year on Easter morning, a fire alarm jolted Virginia Tech student Zachary Gisser awake at 4:15 a.m.

He’d been a Blacksburg Fire Department volunteer for a few months.

Multiple smoke detectors at the Good Shepherd Church of the Brethren on Heather Drive activated, and due to the holiday, only Gisser and two other firefighters were available to respond. 

“As we were coming up on the building, we could smell it, and then as we rounded the corner, we could see that it was certainly on fire,” Gisser said. The call was upgraded to a structured fire response, which brought in an additional fire engine, police and emergency medical services. The fire was later brought under control.

A suspect was later arrested by police and charged with arson, a story Cardinal News previously reported on.

“Honestly, it’s pretty dang cool being a student and firefighter in the same town. I mean, we have to ride around in the big red truck. You can’t really beat that,” Gisser said.

To keep up with a growing need for capable first responders at a time when volunteer numbers are declining, the Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department is using a recruitment pool that is increasingly populated by college students. For departments able to invest in college-student recruitment, building a younger volunteer pipeline could help address an aging volunteer base while bringing in recruits whose skills and commitment can meet the needs of their communities.

“I had a lot of friends who went to a service academy or started to join the military after high school, and I’ve always respected that,” said Jaewon Bong, a Tech sophomore and a favorite among his fellow firefighters participating in the annual Fire Combat Challenge — a firefighter-themed obstacle competition that welcomes back volunteers returning for the new school year. 

“And growing up, I loved fire trucks, so I wanted to become a firefighter to serve the community in my own way,” Bong said. 

The bigger problem 

For fire departments, recruiting younger members has become increasingly difficult as their existing volunteer base continues to age. Between 1998 and 2020, firefighters ages 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 decreased by 15% and 14%, respectively, while the 50 to 59 age group showed an increase of 49%, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

“Major factors contributing to recruitment challenges include increased time demands, more rigorous training requirements and the proliferation of two-income families whose members do not have time to volunteer,” according to an association survey.

At the same time, older volunteers are retiring at a quickening pace.

“The big thing we’re finding in volunteerism is that nobody wakes up, or very few people wake up at 25 or 35, in that age where they may have children saying, ‘Hey, I want to go be a firefighter,’ because it’s just so time-consuming for their training,” said Todd Jones, town fire investigator and public information officer.

So the Blacksburg department adapted in its pursuit of college students looking for an opportunity to also serve their community. 

Recruitment starts in the fall, Jones said, as more students are coming back into town after the summer break. While arriving on campus is one way the department meets recruits, most of the sign-ups start on social media or through word of mouth, which, over the years, has turned the recruitment process into a revolving door — as students graduate, new recruits fill their spots each year.

Of the 60 volunteers with the Blacksburg department, 20 are college students, a figure that has risen since Jones joined the department nearly 10 years ago. Full turnout uniform and equipment are provided to the students free of charge, along with initial training, such as Fire 1, Fire 2, Hazmat operations and additional training such as trench rescue or vehicle operations if students are interested. 

Outside of subsidized training, the station provides access to a washer, dryer, internet, kitchen and a day room where students are encouraged to study while they are on a shift or spend their free time when they are not. 

“As long as there is not a call, we’re either playing ping-pong in the bay, talking in the day room, training, it’s a good time,” said Logan Jennelle, a former student who has served as a volunteer since 2024. “But when those calls come, we need to focus and do what we need to do to get it done.” 

Jones estimates about 95% of college students remain volunteers from the moment they join until they graduate, which ranges between two and four years.

Nineteen people applied for service in the fall, and eight were selected in early September, Jones said. Of those, seven are students — a sign that recruitment has become a more selective process over the years due to increased interest. 

“So this is the biggest volunteer organization, I think, as far as fire, that I’ve been a part of,” said Kyle Guinn, a Blacksburg firefighter who said he began volunteering in Maryland when he was 16. “They get pretty good numbers coming out of the trainings and especially on responses. A lot of other departments, I feel, struggle to find as many volunteers.”

Limitations 

Like water spewing from a firehose, the recruitment pipeline moves fast, and as students graduate, the department must constantly prepare itself to attract new recruits. 

“This spring, we lost six students. For us, that’s a lot,” Jones said. “As a department, it is a commitment that, yeah, we just lost six firefighters …. and we’re starting all over again.”

Between graduating students and scheduled school breaks, there are periods throughout the year where there are staffing gaps. 

“It’s difficult some days to get a full truck,” Jones says about what it is like during the summer. “If it wasn’t for students hanging around in the summer for classes, or they didn’t want to go home because of international reasons, it’d be tough some days to get a truck out with enough people.”

That can leave the fire department consolidating resources, like pulling firefighters from other stations to respond to another area — truck drivers especially, since few firefighters at the department are certified to drive them. 

A fire department’s budget can also limit its recruitment efforts, whether it is located near a university or not. “I cover a very big territory for (Virginia) Farm Bureau and work with a lot of rural communities, and unfortunately, their budgets are very, very, very small,” Jones said. “They don’t have those financial resources to give those extras to their volunteers.”

Also, with more than 30,000 students, Virginia Tech offers a large potential pool of recruits. Replication of the “revolving” door recruitment method can prove difficult for localities whose college student population size is smaller. 

Radford University, for instance, has an enrollment between 7,000 and 8,000. One university student volunteers at the city’s fire department, according to city Fire Chief Rodney Haywood.

And he said overall interest has declined. 

“The numbers are just not there anymore. We threw everything, as far as monetary value, to clothing, you name it, we had tried it. Volunteerism is just not there, not like it used to be,” Haywood said.

The city’s fire department personnel is mixed, with seven volunteers among the staff of 25. Individuals who are not attending college are typically more inclined to find paid opportunities, Haywood said, and the typical prospect already has completed the necessary training from previous service experience — experience that the Blacksburg department has to provide monetarily for its inexperienced college students. 

“A Firefighter 1 [course] is 180 hours worth of training. So at least when they’re coming from that side of the field, they’ve already got that basic training and kind of go to work a little bit quicker,” Haywood said. 

Increased funding to hire more paid staff could help address the problem, Haywood said, but doing so would create further challenges. “You know, if I could wave a magic wand and say that’s the solution, I think it would be good. But then, you have to look at it from a locality standpoint. What does that look like on taxes? Do you have revenue funds to support additional costs?”

However, for departments able to invest in college student recruitment, it makes a difference for the departments and the young volunteers alike.

“Everybody in the department, they are very nice people, and they have great value, putting the community first before themselves,” said Bong, the Blacksburg student volunteer. “Whenever people wave at the fire truck, especially children, that is really big motivation, just all the support from the community.”

Said Bong’s colleague Jenelle, “I’ve continued with the Blacksburg fire department because I just love it. I love doing what we do, helping people on their worst days is one of the things I love the most.”