Crime & Safety

Moon Fire Department Faces Volunteer Shortage

The department has struggled in recent years to attract new volunteers.

Henry Longerman can remember a time when the had a waiting list for hopeful firefighters. 

"There was a time when there was a fire, the siren blew and guys jumped on the truck and did what they had to do," said Longerman, president of the township's volunteer fire company. "Now things have become bogged down." 

Longerman and other fire department officials said that in recent years the department has struggled to add new volunteers to its 52-member ranks. They said the problem can be attributed to busy schedules and the increasingly stringent regulations new fire department recruits must meet. 

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"This is not for someone who wants to just ride around on a fire truck, but we welcome volunteers with open arms," said Moon Fire Marshal Charles Belgie. 

Belgie said Moon's fire department began having difficulty recruiting volunteers about a decade ago, "when money started getting tight and the price of commodities went up, the price of a home went up."

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Moon Fire Chief John Scott said the shortage is particularly noticeable during daytime hours, when he said it's sometimes difficult to find firefighters to respond to incidents while volunteers are at work. 

"Daylight is a hard time for us to get members [to respond to incidents]," he said. "We're lucky that there are six of us who work for the township, like the road department and the police department, but daylight is rough." 

The department also is aging: Scott estimates the average age of the Moon department is 35 to 42. 

"We're not getting younger guys," said Scott, who began volunteering as a high school student in 1980. "The kids would rather do something else than come to the fire house."

The myriad of requirements new firefighters must meet to join Allegheny County departments can too pose difficulty for new recruits, Belgie said. 

"The basic firefighting course through the [Allegheny County Fire] academy is 300 hours. Plus our department trains every Monday night -- that's three hours a week," he said. "Plus You've got activities and committee meetings." 

Belgie said despite the lack of new volunteers, the department is capable of serving township at its current membership level. He said events such as the department's Lenten fish fries and its Moon Park car show, scheduled for later this month, sometimes help attract new members. 

Longerman said he's not satisfied with the department's number of volunteers. He said when he joined in 1971, 90 members actively volunteered in Moon. 

"We have 16 pieces of equipment, but when that alarm goes off during the day, there's always a limited number of people who can actually respond," Longerman said. 


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