Survey: Wisconsin fire departments struggle with adequate staffing

Leaders of more than half of surveyed fire departments in Wisconsin say they’re worried about having adequate staffing.

The finding from a new report by the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health highlights fire departments’ struggle to ensure they have enough volunteers and funding to operate.

James Small, rural EMS outreach program manager, said the office conducted the survey of fire chiefs after a similar report in 2023 revealed the state’s ambulance services were struggling with staffing and financial challenges.

He said the new survey of fire departments found many of the same problems.

“A lot of our rural communities have depended on volunteers, or near volunteers, to provide their fire and EMS services for decades,” Small said. “We’re seeing that there’s just a decline in being able to do that in a reliable way.”

The survey found 62 percent of surveyed departments were worried they would be unable to provide adequate staffing for a call in the next year.

The report found many departments rely on firefighters coming from neighboring departments — what’s referred to as mutual aid — in order to meet minimum requirements for emergencies.

“You don’t necessarily know what you’re going to get when there’s an emergency,” Small said. “A weekday during the daytime hours when most people are working becomes a really difficult time.”

Over 80 percent of the state’s firefighters are volunteers or receive little monetary compensation. The vast majority of rural departments rely entirely on volunteers, making a reliable response more difficult.

Valders Fire & Rescue Chief Christopher Dallas said mutual aid is critical for his volunteer department’s ability to respond to fires in Manitowoc County.

He feels volunteer departments need to be more upfront with their municipal leaders about staffing struggles, including the number of aging volunteers. 

“They have to sit down and have that honest conversation about: What is your staffing? What are your members able to do? Are they able to put on an air pack and enter a building, and meet minimum physical standards?” Dallas said.

His department, which relies entirely on volunteers, has been able to cover the cost of their equipment and vehicles through tax dollars. But Dallas said its budget likely won’t be enough in the coming years if they need to incorporate some paid staff into their department to ensure an adequate response to emergencies.

The state survey found 34 percent of fire chiefs said they lacked sufficient funding to pay their projected expenses for the year.

Dallas called it “absurd” that some volunteer departments are being pushed to cover rising costs through their own fundraising efforts.

“I don’t know any other public safety entity, police department or public works, municipal garbage pickup, that’s out there fundraising for just their basic operational department needs,” he said.

The report found surveyed chiefs recommended more consolidation of local fire departments in order to improve the reliability of responses, including by using paid staff. They also pointed to creating tax breaks for businesses that allow employees to respond to emergency calls, and tax incentives for volunteer firefighters as ways to increase the number of firefighters within a community.