Manlius Fire Department struggles to find volunteers

July 20, 2009

By NICK CARBONI

MANLIUS -- Lieutenant Mike Pfeiffer remembers the old days -- when you had to join a waiting list to volunteer for the Manlius Fire Department.

Those days are gone.

Now the department, and other local suburban departments, are struggling to find volunteers, not to mention keep the ones they have.

"We no longer have a waiting list," Pfeiffer said. "We actually dropped our membership to below 75 [as opposed to 100]. We're even below that right now. It's been a very slow but steady decline."

Pfeiffer said the decline has been going on for about a decade, but it's been recruiting that's slowed during the recession.

"We've had some of those situations now where we've got some that have either lost jobs, or have potential of losing jobs," Pfeiffer said. "So they need to be really focused on their job, and they've got to put it on hold here."

Manlius has switched from an all-volunteer department to a combination department since Pfeiffer first joined in 1980. The department has two stations, one of which is staffed around the clock. The department currently employs 12 career firefighters, but depends on around 60 volunteers.

But not all of those people can make it to a fire.

"It looks like we have a large number of people when you look at the roster," Pfeiffer said. "But those that are actually showing up is much smaller."

That category affects fighting fires in a big way. The department is only drawing about four volunteers to a structure fire when it needs about six.

"That's where we get to the point where people could potentially start getting hurt," Pfeiffer said. "Or there's going to be a larger dollar loss because we can't get in and do the job."