Pennsylvania's volunteer fire companies are fighting their biggest battle yet without the presence of a single flame.

Family commitments, training requirements and the lack of glamour in working the end of a hose on sometimes-freezing nights have made finding new recruits a challenge."We're all hurting," said John McArdle, Nesquehoning Fire Chief and president of both the Carbon County Firemen's Association and the Carbon County Fire Chiefs Association."I think within 10 years we'll have a county-run fire department. Young people have family commitments, and in this day and age, both the husband and wife are usually working. When you factor in travel time if they work out of the area, they don't have much spare time left. As a whole, the younger generation doesn't see a great need to volunteer."The number of volunteer firefighters has declined from 300,000 in the 1970s to 70,000 in the 1990s, and Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner Edward A. Mann estimates there are currently about 50,000 volunteers across the state.Nesquehoning has around 35 volunteers between its three fire stations. For the second straight year, Jim Thorpe Fire Department is automatically joining Nesquehoning, and vice versa, for fire calls between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. due to a lack of manpower."We were always self-sufficient before," McArdle said. "This kind of arrangement was unheard of a few years ago. We may have 28 jackets on the wall, but you might see 10 of them gone when we get a fire call."Ironically, Nesquehoning is one of the lucky departments that have an area employer willing to work with them. It regularly pulls 8-to-10 employees from Kovatch Mobile Equipment Corp. for fire calls."They have been good enough to let some of their workforce respond, and without that, I think we'd be in trouble," McArdle said.Lehighton Fire Department is fortunate to have around 40 volunteers, but Chief Patrick Mriss is not going to put out the no vacancy sign."I'm not turning anyone away," he said. "You never know what you are going to have for calls because of work schedules and people's personal lives. It's easier to have more people than not enough."Why so unattractive?Unlike days gone by, firefighters do so much more than battle flames."You have to raise money and work bingo and breakfast," McArdle said. "Sometimes you fight a fire at 2 a.m. and have to come back at 6 a.m. to work a breakfast. Not a lot of people want to do that."Mann said two main reasons why volunteer firefighters quit are due to firehouse politics and onerous fundraising requirements. Many firefighters stated their dissatisfaction with the time they spent hosting bingo games and chicken barbecues.Emergency services isn't the only area being hit by a lack of volunteers.About 62.6 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2012 and September 2013. Updated numbers should be available in February."Whether it's fire departments, youth organizations or church groups, volunteerism isn't as popular anymore," Mriss said. "A lot of that has to do with both people in the household working and the shift work that is more popular now than it ever has been."The amount of required training is often cited as another deterrent for volunteering to fight the flames.Prospective firefighters must complete 160 hours just to pass the Pennsylvania State Essentials of Firefighting.That being said, McArdle feels there is a need for more training than there was 20 to 30 years ago."Homes are built faster now with lightweight materials, and if you don't have the training, you run the risk of being injured," he said.Fire police numbers are also dwindling."Let's face it, there were a lot of older people doing that job, and that generation is dying off," McArdle said. "They are hard to replace."Perhaps the number one drawback of recruiting new firefighters is the fact they are still volunteers."Go up to kids on the street and ask them to join, and the first thing they ask is how much they'll get paid," McArdle said.Costly extinctionAccording to the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute, there are 2,400 fire departments spread across the state's 67 counties.Adams County, located in the southern part of the state, commissioned a fire funding study in 2013 that recommended a dedicated 0.25-mill fire tax for all municipalities. Around half of its 34 municipalities adopted the tax.According to the study, if all departments paid their firefighters, the median salary would be $61,411 plus $34,000 in benefits.A 2001 PFESI study found that volunteer fire service companies, on average, yielded about $6 billion in avoided costs to local governments.Solutions"I think our legislators need to step in and do something such as offer free garbage, a reduction in taxes or something to entice people to want to help," McArdle said.A bill introduced last year by state Rep. Stephen Barrar, R-160, would allow fire companies to bill for actual costs. The bills could then be submitted to insurance companies, but if the company declined to pay, the financial responsibility for homeowners would not go away.Those who live in a municipality with a fire tax, or who make a monetary contribution to an annual fund drive within 12 months before an emergency, would not be able to submit bills to the insurance company.State Sens. Lisa Baker, R-20, and Sean Wiley, D-49, also proposed legislation that would allow municipalities to waive local earned income taxes for volunteer first responders.State Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-122, said he would support tax breaks to help attract more volunteer firefighters."Volunteering is one of the best things you can do as a person," Mriss said. "We're out there helping people in some of their worst times. Talking to our members, that is what they get out of it. The gratification of being able to do that."